RUN51

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project. She has served as a Leadership Development Consultant for clients including Fortune 100 companies, global girls’ initiatives, and the U.S. Department of State. Vilardi is co-author of the Athena CORE10©, an innovative set of competencies for 21st century women leaders, based on research and gender analysis for the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College. She has appeared on the mainstage at Personal Democracy Forum, on CNN, BBC, and Fox News, and her work was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, New York Magazine, and others. She is an Executive Producer of Ann Richards’ Texas, a documentary about the late pioneering governor.

The global pandemic has exacerbated the structural inequalities of our country’s democracy. Communities of color and people with low incomes are suffering disproportionately while federal leaders contribute to a lack of clarity and action. State and municipal governments have stepped in to fill the gaps -- but in a system that already needed fixing, too many citizens are experiencing crises. 

RUN51 is a nonpartisan pathway to reshaping our democracy to be more accessible and inclusive. Having analyzed 40+ data points across all U.S. states, Vote Run Lead has pinpointed six key states (MN, NY, GA, OH, FL, TX) where, according to geographical analysis, filing deadlines, open seats, voter turnout, and more, we can increase women’s representation to transform state legislatures to female majorities. 

This effort will elevate humanity by creating a gender equity transformation model, leading to improved policies and practices, that can be scaled and replicated around the world.

U.S. government is currently 75% male, and overwhelmingly white. CNN reports that of the current 7,383 state legislators in the U.S., 81+% are white and 71+% are male. Such stagnant leadership has contributed to the diminished effectiveness of our democracy: Nonpartisan govtrack.us says that political gridlock results in 75% fewer laws passed compared to 40 years ago. The current system leaves out millions of citizens who are unable to participate in our democracy due to archaic voting rules, money in politics, and gerrymandered districts. Furthermore, COVID-19 has revealed the fragility of our democracy and grave consequences when leaders are unwilling to create fair systems. This problem affects our entire 331 million-person population. And, though the lack of parity is pressing in the U.S., it is not exclusive to our country. Worldwide, women’s participation in national-level parliaments is less than 25%. 

Over the last few months, women leaders have received praise for compassion, competency, and constituency services. They are instrumental in reforming democracy to be more accessible and inclusive. We have the opportunity to infuse the system with diverse, intersectional women and begin to build a government that truly reflects its people. 

RUN51 leverages Vote Run Lead’s award-winning Run As You Are(™) training curriculum to transform all 50 state legislatures to be 51% women. Launched in 2020, RUN51 will train future female candidates in pilot states New York, Minnesota, Georgia, and Ohio to be pro-democracy reformers, to win their races and, through an infusion of women leaders, create system-wide structural reforms that increase voter access, broaden engagement, and support an independent redistricting process. The program will: 

• Utilize an updated toolkit for structural and pro-democracy reform; 

• Welcome an expanded pool of local organizers and experts; 

• Dig deeper into the conditions that support women running and winning, so that we can learn directly from the source; 

• Pivot as necessary to enhance digital curriculum and online webinar series; 

• Amplify Vote Run Lead's "Run As You Are" message and promote our expertise to inspire and recruit more women to train with us on structural reform; and

• Include evaluations to track and measure results.  

From this pilot, Vote Run Lead will be able to create a playbook with which it can expand to all 50 states. We will share this playbook with values-aligned partners. 

RUN51 directly serves women, particularly those who have historically been underrepresented in elected office; it serves them by training them to identify and articulate their values and to mobilize their inherent leadership. We recognize our impact beyond those we directly serve: Each state legislature has both a Senate and House district; district members are directly affected by legislation passed, resources garnered for a community, and how those resources are leveraged. Furthermore, we know that statewide legislation can have an avalanche effect (i.e. marriage equality legislation, passed and normalized by a significant number of states, which was then legislated at the federal level). 

To understand our community’s needs, Vote Run Lead is polling, specifically in rural districts of RUN51’s pilot states -- NY, OH, MN, and GA -- some that have never elected a woman or person of color to the state legislature. State Directors are researching districts to understand their ecosystems, and will help trainees influence the narrative about new leadership through OpEd writing, radio / television PSAs, and other cultural touchpoints. We will engage them through a relational organizing model to connect with one another on issues, nominate women to run, and create circles of support around future candidates.

RUN51 seeks out women in communities that have been traditionally left out of the political process and/or are vilified as too radical or too “foreign.” This often includes women of color, especially Black women, New American / first generation women, and religious minorities. Building their positional and informal power is the solution to shifting to a system that values more inclusive, just policies. Our goal of going state-by-state to create reflective majorities -- 51% women and representative of the diverse, changing American electorate -- will precisely elevate opportunities for those traditionally left behind.

Getting marginalized women into political power was the brainchild of my mentor, Marie C. Wilson, creator of Take Your Daughter to Work Day™ and President Barbie. She understood the power of cultural symbols and, as head of the Ms. Foundation for Women, knew that women’s and community foundations were crucial to creating equity for all. Across America, such nonprofits and their grantees were working to strengthen the fabric of communities, often focusing on women’s health, child services, economic innovation, and other ideas often left out of traditional policy-making. 

After a double major in Politics and Gender Studies at NYU, Marie hired me at age 22 to lead an effort to launch diverse women into electoral politics as a strategy to achieve their goals. I traveled the globe, met activists during the Arab Spring, and began to understand the power of technology and digital connectedness. In 2014 I launched Vote Run Lead to help seed a revolution in America to be led by the voices and vision of diverse, feminist women. 

RUN51 is a response to the 2018 “women’s wave” in U.S. politics and an understanding that a macro-level change that combines cultural and policy-making power will benefit all of us. 

I have been doing this work for 17 years. In that time I’ve seen small culture shifts that seem to promise big changes. Yet I believe that we are in an absolutely pivotal moment. If we don’t make significant progress toward parity now -- parity that will deliver more just policies, parity that has the potential to improve our democracy for generations -- then we’ve lost an historic opportunity to bring a compassionate, feminist leaderhsip to America. 

I have a personal connection to the individual women across the country who I have coached in person and on the phone, who battle -- nearly everyday -- the misogyny and racism in their city councils, on school boards, and in state houses. Some of them simply ask to be recognized and to get for their communities what others benefit from so easily. Others work to make major changes for their constituents that would impact the lives of thousands of people. I am passionate about this state house strategy because I know it will work. 

I have nearly two decades of experience with this work. In that time, more than 36,000 women have been trained by Vote Run Lead’s curriculum. Thousands of alumnae have run for office; several hundreds have won. We have stayed the course with our principals to train the most diverse group of women of any organization like us, and to remain nonpartisan. Last year alone, we trained women in three dozen states and the demand for our work continues to grow. 

I am fortunate to be surrounded by a team who is the best at their jobs -- all of them smarter than me. Still, I have just enough ego to want to keep up with them, and to push my vision through to be successful. It’s why Vote Run Lead has grown 400% in four years. 

Finally, after nearly 20 years, I am more passionate about this work than ever, to help shape a democracy where all people are recognized, where equitable policies lead to an equitable culture. I am continually inspired by the women who come to Vote Run Lead to train. I invite you to join us; you will be just as fired up to support the diverse voices hungry to make change for the better in ripples across the country. 

RUN51 was a runner-up for the Audacious Prize last year, which would have delivered a $30 million investment. When we didn’t receive the funds, I was heartbroken and disappointed. The training sector for political candidates was growing crowded and more partisan. Our resources had been stretched on an historic, one-day, 20-city mega-training that reached nearly 3,000 women nationwide, but didn't get the kind of attention needed to bolster our profile. On the heels of 2018’s “women’s wave” that broke the record for women and women “firsts” getting elected into office, I felt uncertain about what would be next for my personal mission to help women build their power. 

But I took several long walks and doubled down on the RUN51 idea, tapping my network to restart my creative juices. I was introduced to a potential supporter who was in no rush to meet me. I flew across the country anyway and when she asked where the big thinking in the women’s political representation was, I opened my laptop and started to pitch. Six weeks later she made a three-year investment, then this year added another state for 2021 expansion.

Spring of 2020 was supposed to be our very exciting RUN51 launch. 

Then a global pandemic hit. My team and I scattered, many of us self-isolating in different parts of the country. We canceled events, including the RUN51 launch, which was to happen at South by Southwest in mid-March. Like the majority of nonprofits and companies across the U.S. (and world), we had to throw our plans out the window. 

But democracy is more important than ever in times of crisis, and our trainees were still running for office in 2020. We had to serve them. My team and I took some breaths and a handful of afternoons off to ensure our mental and physical health, then we launched in April a six-part online series called Your Kitchen Cabinet: Every Woman’s Virtual Campaign Team, to serve as a resource for our community. While COVID-19 is still ongoing, we simultaneously have begun a real reckoning on valuing Black life in America. Vote Run Lead is in a period of inquiry, boldness, and learning in our programming implementation during this time and are reminded that who leads us is paramount to how we will survive and thrive together. 

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