with the help of a new political action committee. the official launch included members of congress, political consultant and former u.s. house candidates discussing some of the challenges women face while running for office. welcome, everyone we just finished our votes on the floor first of all i'm so excited so many people turned out in support of the important initiative.

to engage, and power, elevate and elect more republican women to congress in 2020 and beyond as you know we're facing a crisis level of republican women in congress. the number of a house members dropped from 23 to only 13 in this congress. let's take a moment to think about that. that means republican women make up less than 3% of the house of representatives. we know this is not reflective of the american public and we can and we must do better and we do not need to ask for permission to tackle this challenge. my commitment to supporting republican women running for congress stems from my own experience when i ran in 2014. when i announced my candidacy i was the longshot underdog who many say they couldn't win the primary let alone the general election in a swing district but

because of hard work and a strong campaign team with grassroots support we are in early investment and support and i am forever grateful for those leaders many of whom are in the room today who invested in the early on, leaders like in wagner, dianne, cathy mcmorris rogers, susan brooks, paul ryan and john boehner. because of that experience i focused on how to improve the recruitment efforts for the nontraditional candidates. i was honored to serve i as the first woman chair for the national republican committee of the last cycle where we successfully recruited over 100 women to run for congress. unfortunately, about half didn't make it through their primary and we only added carol miller who you love an we love and supd more of. i believe one way we can attempt

to change the trend is by supporting strong women candidates before the primary. as any candidate will tell you this investment is critical so i'm proud to announce today that in the 2020 cycle, we will develop a slate of the top winning republican candidates wn republican candidates before the primary similar to the program developed by the then young kevin mccarthy paul ryan and the eric cantor will reach benchmarks for fund raising, campaign strategy data and the budget and will consist of top candidates in the country and support them with direct contributions as well as bundling efforts through washington and around the country got unlike the young guns program this will be for women and it wil there will be - primary, early dollars. in addition to the financials of, we will focus on candidate development and mentor should then also work to elevate the profiles of these candidates to

ensure they earned media coverage something that's often been overlooked for republican women candidates and as we build out this robust program might want to see an enormous thank you to all of you that have stepped up. my initial pie-in-the-sky goal for this event but i thought was going to be impossible was to raise $100,000. in just two weeks with your support, we blew past th past tr and i'm pleased to announce today we have raised over $250,000 shattering the goals. [applause] we will pay it forward to more female republican candidates thank you for signing up early in support of this initiative

for the house leadership i will invite them up to the stage now my friends and colleagues the republican colleague kevin mccarthy, come on up. thank you, kevin. the conference chair from wyoming. [applause] and the nrc ce chair. welcome. [applause] thank you for your support and for appearing here at this important event. kevin i will start with you why do you believe it's important to support republican women and what do they add to the conference? >> first of all i want to thank you for doing this i remember when i first met elise stefanik when she was going to run there were other people who ran

before. she was young, enthusiastic like she still is, but she was a trailblazer being able to do things others have not done before. we serve anybody that is supposein a body that issupposee country, a microcosm of the society. today republicans are missing the broad spectrum of that. thank you for your recruiting efforts we have a lot o had a ln who serve today who lost by what telluride just was two weeks ago i was in south dakota for the swearing-in of christie as the first woman governor of south dakota. [applause] if you want to be a representative government and reflect america, we need more women in congress especially on the republican side and we've got to find the challenge. the number one challenge we have becomes women, minorities the biggest challenge is not the

general election. it's the primary. we've got to to get people through when we have the opportunity and when we do. i was very proud to nominate you to serve as the conference chair. that is the highest position of women and republican congress and we think you are a huge asset in that role. one of the things you and i have talked about not just in supporting your candidate but reaching out to the women voters with your message can you talk about how you plan to tackle that? >> let me add my comments and adjust things you so much for doing this and taking the leadership role is important for the party and for us in the house and it is crucial we need to get more women to run and we need to find what it is the obstacles for women. in my view of things that have women spend our time assessing

what they don't have instead of the experience they have been tagged rather than going for it and it's important for us to encourage women to jump in. and i think at the end of the day as well, we've got to get more women voters and a large part of that for us is going to be making sure the message is getting out and making sure we are demonstrating if you put our policies has republican up against the policies of the democrats, and in particular the far left policy that you are seeing now coming both from a lot of the freshmen democrats as well as the presidential candidates that it's our policies that provide opportunities from our policies provide securities and help to ensure everybody has an equal shot and an economy that's growing and providing jobs and that we are listening. a huge part of making sure we are attracting women voters is demonstrating we are willing to listen to people's concerns and

willing to have conversations in small groups around the country as well as at the national level without the kind of future our party will build versus the kind of future that democrats will offer if they are voted in again so i'm very excited about it and thrilled to be a colleague and working on these important issues. >> as the chairman, can you talk to us about what steps you can take to prioritized the women candidates and ensure we are recruiting women candidates? >> we have to continue what you started in the last cycle. we have a leader that is in complete alignment with everything that needs to be done and you started with talk about this because that is where we are ultimately going to go. we've got to susan brooks our colleague is going to hit up the recruitment but it's not just going to be about susan brooks as you know. we are excited about what he was

doing because we are going to try to help with what you're doing to the extent we can but the mission is the same. i don't think people realize that in the last cycle the chair of the recruitment committee recruited a record number of women to run for office. everybody wants to make it look like it happened on the other side you have a record number that stepped up and ran and they ran good campaigns with money matters. it was reined in from the other side and they targeted not just the women incumbents but the great candidates that you recruited so much so we only got one through the entire process. now that's the focus. you've got to find a great female candidates. we have a sitting state senator and rob bloom, republican was in the district she approached us the day and i think the swearing-in and since she's

running. this is a former tv news anchor, sitting senator incredibly polished in what we did and this will now go to susan brooks. she meets with every one of our members of our conference. you give her the feedback and encouragement you told them what they have and what they can do to run. we are going to keep building off of what you started and hopefully together expand this not just with all new women candidates but in the other communities that need to be part of the republican party as the leader said. >> i know you are committed to this and i just have to say he's been wonderful any candidate that's reached out to the nrcc, he is referred to many of the members he's made sure i've had the opportunity to talk with them and ashley is one of them.

>> you started to pu started upu were focused on developing metrics to ensure the candidates develop into the best possible candidates they can be. can you talk about the importance of those tricks? >> it's not just that you should encourage someone to run. they need more than just financial resources and in the last cycle when i interviewed men versus women your work today is going to change that to a whole other level. getting through the primary is another difficulty. they may not have an elected knowledge resource fork. i didn't wants washington to improve the candidates and making a level playing field to

put the metrics that each district is. it's up to the trek based upon the district and measure it quarter after quarter salutes not washington making the candidates you are giving the opportunity and i found in a couple places they were going to be good candidates and they were impressive but i see somebody inside the district it's the fire in the belly and the passion of why. that's what you want to see. the other thing is not to be afraid if you don't win the first time. jackie was one of the first young gun candidates. she didn't winch, she came right back. that early money has to be training and expertise in so many levels to provide.

michigan does not put a portal online we just had a meeting they make but they are going to allow us to utilize that and parker this would be elise you want in on the national security, there you are. and what happens is a lot of folks don't know and they will see i can do that too. the first part people have to understand yes they can run and they can win it might not look like it today but it can happen. >> one of the challenges is aching surely elevate their voices when they are elected to serve. i think about some of the amazing women we have been the confidence and they lead on

issues i don't think the american public knows about necessarily because it's not front-page news. the amazing work to combat human trafficking or the bill that passed week unanimously to interest maternal brutality issues. to elevate all of the republican voices that they are leaving on not just women's issues but all issues. tell me how you intend to approach the. >> you make a good point, and part of the, one of the things i find to be inaccurate as to say there are women's issues and there are others issues and in my experience, what that means is usually for example the national security is not an issue they care about. you talk to any mother, anybody sitting at the kitchen table wanting to know their kids are going to be safe, it matters a lot and partly as a conference

for the ability to be heard and make sure both nationally and around the country where helping but i want to go back one minute to the issue of the women candidates because one of the things i have five kids and so i spent a lot of time in classrooms with my kids teachers and if you go to any preschool classroom around the country you will see that the girls are running circles around the boys in the classrooms. it actually starts to change junior high, high school, the girls are not running things anymore and i asked a third grade teacher once why is this all of a sudden they are not out

there and she said something that is true they stopped taking risk. i'm not ai am not an advocate fy risk-taking that i do think it's important for us to be able to say just because you never fund raise before you've never been on tv before don't let that stop you and i think that is where our women and confidence both highlighting the important issues and highlighting them as examples for young women to get into the race is what is usually important so it's a big priority and something we are going to be focused on. >> last cycle an >> last cycle and use of this one of the deputies and we got to work together. i was one of the vice chairs. talk to me about your strategy because we know the laser focus on winning back the majority, and i know you've been hard at

work. how are you approaching that job? >> the last is what you referred to as a check on the new president. our focus with the candidates including many female candidates we hope to be putting up is going to be about vocalizing the racist this is still a center-right country. i know the talking heads want people to be concerned we have a political realignment taking place and that isn't true. this is still a center-right country. you have 34% of the voters in the last identified as hard democrats so it was pretty normal. 30% identified as independents. those fell into last week of the election and those are the

people we have to target. this was from the 2004 in order for you to maintain the majority, you not only have to win these greater states in the rural areas of america, but you have to win the majority of those independents and that is the center-right suburbs of the educated women that we lost. we are going to be focusing on that not only those that identifidentify with the distrid can speak and connect its also making sure that those candidates are delivering a message in the suburbs so we can win the majority and hold the base. i know as the republican leader you spend a lo spent a lot of tl working with the nrcc and tom and the entire team on how to win in 2020.

can you talk strategically on how you plan to approach the cycle? >> i want to give you one example about it's not just the nrcc to recruit. it's all of us. before i go to congress i was a state assembly member. i come from an area of california that's tough in california. i recruited the perso person bee voting in the state assembly. she went on to the senate and became the first woman leader republican or democrat. a donor of mine i called her up and said have you ever thought about running. she was a superintendent and never thought about running. and someone that already put a million dollars and said i will be behind you 100%. you know who got elected the new republican leader.

the last three have all been women. and she just came for that recruit as well so there is responsibility in those. can we win the majority when i analyze what took place one was history we are supposed to lose about 30 seats. we had 41 retirements, it's terrible because when it is an open seat it's about the situation. democrats were successful in the cases when they read through -- withdrew pennsylvania. they one like everybody understands that they changed the law in california were the same day voter registration and then we were able to harvest if it's right after the election that only three weeks later there would be three more. should the youngest congresswoman in here.

you have the higher minority, the team together. history says the we are not supd to lose 30s on, we are supposed to gain 19. we have seats we have to defend. they have 31. it is a whole different makeup. what has to happen when you want to get a very good recruit especially what we are looking for a reflective of this country we should put money into the race and not wait until after the primary because we will recruit a woman and she will have a tough primary but we are going to be there.

you will have somebody that is willing to take a risk that the greatest challenge i've never tried to talk somebody into wanting to run to just ask why you want to. if you care about your country and are concerned it's going in a direction you don't want to, you will be the best candidate but we've found. we found. it's the same question because you know what she was going to run, she was going to become the youngest woman in the history of congress. you know she had to break some china to get here. when she saw the problem here they wanted to put this together so don't just put it on to us to have the recruiting let's hope just what they saw with the

minor leagues. >> as we talk about the candidates that ran in the last cycle but unfortunately came up short, i think of young as one of those examples they have an amazing background. i find that those stories do not get adequate coverage in the media in the same way that the democratic women candidates have earned coverage in the last cycle. for me personally in the program thabut is one of our strategic goals is to tell them in a serious way and that is why we are having elizabeth as the keynote here today. she and her brother started a number of businesses in the telecom industry and it wasn't told until the last month of the cycle. it should have been told earlier. how can we and how can you ask the chair and sure we are

telling the stories to elevate the profiles? >> i find it to b to be true acs the board in the conference and frankly in the house you can sit down next to any member of the house and ask their life story and for the most part it's a fascinating set of experiences. and for young people especially you can make a difference and have an impact. we get to live in this nation where we decide who's in charge and what our walls are and who represents us and i think we take it for granted too much when you think about the message for the young women in particular i do think it's

important so much that you see in the media about politics and politicians and campaigns makes people's eyes glaze over and i think part of our job as elected representatives is to remind people how special the nation is, how unique it is and that one person can make all the difference and that is where highlighting the stories making sure women candidates have access to understand this is what happens in the house and how one person can change things and that is the only way things change and it's one of the reasons i am humbled to be here and so proud to be the colleague because she is an example of a person changing things so i want to echo everything said and thank you for joining us.

>> her favorite candidate i have a daughter. she doesn't know this. she never met megan before but she inspired her. she watches the race closer than any others because what she was telling her if she can do it i can do it and that's when you talk about getting stories or others. so with all of you are doing in your professional life as while it can players others and we have to get that mentoring program going. >> i have one last question and i'm going to ask each of the panelists i will start with you since you meet with many of the recruits across the country both women candidates and male candidates. what are the key metrics that you think determines success because i found out they met with hundreds of candidates bust cycle that was important to be transparent.

we want you to set these fund-raising goals there are some candidates in the candidate audience today that talk about the metrics you are looking for. as i sit here listening to you the things you've done in your lifetime and the things you are doing right now it is an honor to be able to serve with you with your dealings over the last four years yo u. r. the best political person in the conference and the best judge of talent in the conference and we are lucky to have you as the leader is. >> it's about being on the right

side of history that they provide the opportunity for everybody. that's the first thing i do and it's probably what you do. do they have the fire. or you just coming in because it looks like this might be fun to do and do you have any idea what you are getting into? you are going to run a business but depending on where you are you will be racing between two to 3 million depending on the seat it might be more than just the next 12 to 16 months. if you are fortunate enough to get elected if they say yes you are the voice we want you in congress now you are going to run at least two businesses if not more and these are seven-figure businesses. kevin said it best when he's that i'm worried about the future of this country and my children's future, my great

grandchildren's future and what we are passing on. that's the first step. >> so do you know what you're getting into and how big this is. that's not a reason not to do it. it shows that there is a hunger for candidates and if we can get those that have the hunger themselves then we can provide the resources and it's about being able to raise money. also tell them when they come in and some of you are in the room, before you hire anyone as a consultant, before you take the vast sweep of the services and products they are offering for the campaign please call us because they will tell you they don't need us. but the first thing is what's here and what's here.

if your family is with you man or woman it doesn't matter who's running if you have that kind of support that is going to be a good heart. >> do you want to answer that question? >> i think todd has covered the logistics and the details because it's such a special thing i worked worked for the time one of the programs i worked on was helping women get the right to vote in other countries and we worked with a group who got themselves the right to vote and they made t-shirts. one of my prized possessions is have a democracy is not a democracy and that is so important for us to remember you got to make sure you have the ability to fund raise and

organize and do details and logistics, but i am just so proud and honored and humbled to be able to serve in this body and live in this country and what i do is encourage people to do it. there's such a unique opportunity we have to change the future and make a difference and i think it's important for the candidates to hear that and you've got to make sure that they have to fire in their belly. but if they do we've got to say absolutely, get in this thing. >> and kevin? >> it's one of the most difficult things you ever do. think of that. we probably have the only occupation in the world cup every two years we get to know the exact number that dislike us. >> but in the world of the internet today, the obstacles are so much lower. the internet is going to change

and be disruptive in the political world but what that means is there is no monopoly on it you can come from anywhere, any walk of life and your voice could be amplified more than ever before. more people are going to listen to you and want to or if there is a better opportunity and the timing for it as well you will think the certain people are going to do so much for you. but you are going to meet people you've never met before but will do more for you than even your family. and you are going to be inspired more about your country but it's going to be one of the best experiences you could ever have. i have an individual.com, she had a business, publisher of books and she never thought about running for office. the office came over him and said she would make a great representation to be a

supervisor. she became supervisor, ran and lost. but she was so inspired by that, she is the mayor of the city today. last night i watched an award show they've got the best high school students competing like jeopardy and you said something about yourself. they said what would you -- she gets on the stage and she has inspired him when he never even met her before. and that is the difference people have to know. and i think you can allow the candidate to be stronger and that is where i want you to start thinking about that. so many different places and people you work with i don't care what the child is you would be proud of them to represent you let's give them a window in opportunity to do it. >> before we close the panel, i want to publicly thank steve

scalise who is the republican whip. he wasn't able to attend because he's on the house floor, but i have to tell you when we launched this initiative that started off pretty informal talking about the importance of electing a more republican women, steve was the first phone call and the first check to max out to the initiative. so i want to publicly thank him and all the leadership for their support, for their commitment to this end for elevating a worker and women who are serving in the house, and understandinhouse, aw important our voices are. thank you so much all for coming. >> let's thank elise. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations]