--- title: The Women's Convention Was a Crash Course in Campaigning description: The convention is an attempt to transform the woman's movement's momentum into votes, seats and majorities. canonical: https://time.com/5001389/womens-convention-political-takeover/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-29T15:13:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:59:17.848Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Women's Convention Was a Crash Course in Campaigning og:description: The convention is an attempt to transform the woman's movement's momentum into votes, seats and majorities. og:url: https://time.com/5001389/womens-convention-political-takeover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfeddc9561f8962c/6988e3c34ee262129630f92a/gettyimages-867558956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The Women's Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Women's Convention Was a Crash Course in Campaigning twitter:description: The convention is an attempt to transform the woman's movement's momentum into votes, seats and majorities. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfeddc9561f8962c/6988e3c34ee262129630f92a/gettyimages-867558956.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'If Not Me, Who?' Thousands of Women Plan Their Political Takeover > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d8f7bf3c-57db-4c5f-8bba-9ba94a3f9c94&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 'If Not Me, Who?' Thousands of Women Plan Their Political Takeover [Watch (HLS stream): 'If Not Me, Who?' Thousands of Women Plan Their Political Takeover](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OswKlOar.m3u8) (2:23)  _Published 2017-10-29. The women were making to-do lists: Call your neighbor and ask her for money. Open a campaign bank account. Get the party’s voter file. Find the right doors in your district. Knock on them._  by [Charlotte Alter/Detroit](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter/Detroit Senior Correspondent Oct 29, 2017 3:13 PM UTC  by [Charlotte Alter/Detroit](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter/Detroit Senior Correspondent Oct 29, 2017 3:13 PM UTC The women were making to-do lists: Call your neighbor and ask her for money. Open a campaign bank account. Get the party’s voter file. Find the right doors in your district. Knock on them. They sat cross-legged on the floor in overpacked rooms, listened quietly, took notes in neat handwriting, then closed their notebooks and stowed them in their purses. When they got back to Illinois or New York or Utah or Indiana, they’d unpack their notebooks, open the lists and start crossing things off. “I look at my list that I gotta do, if it’s make 10 phone calls, fill out four forms, start a campaign bank account, notify seven people,” says Val Montgomery, 45, who works in finance at a telecom company and plans to run for Illinois state representative next year. “My goal every single day is to do two items.” “This election made me feel like obviously anyone can hold elected office, literally anyone!” says Shireen Ghorbani, 36, who works in communications and is running for Congress against Republican Chris Stewart in Utah’s 2nd district. “I think women have a right to be pissed off right now.” Ten months after the [Women’s March](http://motto.time.com/4659783/womens-march-linda-sarsour-interview/) mobilized the [largest protest in U.S. history](http://time.com/4649891/protest-donald-trump/), the Resistance is getting down to brass tacks. When more than 4,000 women gathered in Detroit’s Cobo Convention Center for a three-day [Women’s Convention](http://www.womensconvention.com/), many of them were there to learn how to run for office themselves. The convention is an attempt to transform the woman’s movement’s momentum into votes, seats and majorities. “Marching is just not enough,” says Linda Sarsour, one of the national co-chairs of the Women’s March, in an interview. “In the short term, we have to win in 2018.” Women are rising to the challenge. More than 20,000 have approached Emily’s List about running for office in the year since Trump’s election; normally the group has fewer than 1,000 requests at this point in the cycle. The Convention had so many panels on the practical logistics of political organizing that it was impossible to attend them all: they were scheduled at the same time, sometimes in rooms too small to accommodate the lines of women waiting outside to get in. The panelists gave practical advice: which technological tools to use (ActBlue and GroundGame were two suggestions), how much money to raise (more than you think), what works (direct text messaging) and what doesn’t (boring social media posts). At nearly every political organizing panel, the moderators asked for a show of hands to see who was considering running. It was usually about half the room. Women who didn’t raise their hands looked sheepish. Some women who started the weekend not sure if they would run were giving interviews about their likely candidacy just hours later. Some of the women planning to give it a shot describe their candidacy as a duty, not an aspiration. “I almost feel like it’s a little bit selfish not to run,” says Charlesetta Wilson, 39, who is strongly considering running for Michigan House of Representatives from her Detroit district. “Even though I may have to sacrifice my privacy and things like that, it’s for the better of the whole, it’s for the better of the community.” Still, desire to run is one thing: practical guidance is another. Some of the advice they got was obvious: be yourself, watch out for embarrassing social media posts, ask your friends and family for money. Other tips were specifically aimed at women who had no political experience and may not be able to hire paid staff. Jessica Morales Rocketto, a Clinton campaign veteran who recently became the political director of the Domestic Worker’s Alliance, had some good advice: learn Excel, because voter files will be useless without it. Master peer-to-peer texting, since many people don’t have landlines anymore. If you don’t want to run, call city council and ask if there are any appointed positions you can fill. “People are way too focused on social media as a tool,” Rocketto said, adding that candidates too often use social media for boring posts like “Happy Pacific Islander Day” instead of actual commentary on the issues. Facebook is worthwhile, she says, but Snapchat is probably a waste of time. Some experts emphasized the importance of appropriate physical contact (handshakes, shoulder grabs) in connecting with voters. Others reminded women that time, not money, was their most important political resource. There was advice on how to vet themselves to pre-empt surprises from their opponents (check your taxes!) and how to manage family life during a mudslinging campaign. “The biggest problem is that your spouse or partner’s gonna get really mad,” Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock told a crowd of would-be candidates. “You’ll be fine, you’re tough as nails. They’re gonna freak out.” For some women, the nuts-and-bolts approach helped them think of electoral politics as something tangible, a process they could actually participate in. “I’ve always had vague political aspirations,” says Michele Oberholtzer, a housing advocate who is considering a run for Michigan State House. “But I didn’t have the tools to even know where to start.” For others, the Convention provided a step-by-step guide to achieving what now seemed to be almost a calling. “If not me, who?” says Maureen Martin, 60, who plans to run for county commission in her rural county in southeastern Michigan. “How would someone else have more ability than I have right now? It’s an obligation, it’s a responsibility.” ## Transcript I cannot be; live it. I think we were together MetroFi in California just two weeks ago. Have we even hit 19, 000 yet? I checked this morning and we have had now over 20, 500. I left the 500 out. 20, 500 women across the country. [ APPLAUSE ] My name is Anne Stava- Murray and I'm running for State Rep in the Illinois 81st. My name is Val Montgomery and I'm running for Illinois State Representative District 41. My name is Maureen Martin. I'm running for County Commission in Livingston County, Michigan. My name is Charlesetta Wilson. I am from Detroit. And consider running for a state house in District six in Detroit. An astonishing. You see who has taken the highest office in our country, how there's a disregard for women in general. And that there is, there's a disregard for you know just as equal like as Equal citizens. I think it may have made me more progressive than I was before the election. [ APPLAUSE ] These are our three [ INAUDIBLE ] managers and our finance [ CROSSTALK ]. I have enough experience and enough power in the places in which I move that for me to not activate is a disservice. to others. The least I can do is show up and hold up everyone else who might want to come along or might be here. In that way, it's sort of an if not me who. My representative, they run on the polls. For two terms. And that did not sit well with me. And all the things that were not being done, I felt was because he was not working with the people. And that forced me to say, wait, if I want a change, I have to do it myself. Even though I may have to sacrifice my privacy, and things like that, it's for the better of the whole. It's for the better of the community, it's for the better of everybody. It's just this like amazing chain impact of this almost pink wave where it's the impact of women telling other women, look what we can do together and when we all run at the same time. We have this collective force and power that we've never seen before. 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