Welcome to Run Women Run
The United States ranks 87th in the world in representation of elected women at the national level. In 2010, for the first time in thirty years, the number of elected women declined. Polls show that young women between ages 18-34 see no reason to vote for women and are abandoning women at the polls. In fact, results from a recent Forbes poll showed that young women think that Lady Gaga is more powerful than Nancy Pelosi– the first women to become Speaker of the House, third in line to the Presidency.
Electing women is about more than numbers. It’s about bringing a balanced perspective to the dialogue and decisions that create good governance and public policy. Without a critical mass of women’s voices and women in positions to set the agenda the imbalance will continue. We can and must do better.
The good news is there is a growing local and global movement to increase the number of women in public and private policy-making positions. Why? Because when women are elected quality of life, governance and accountability improve. And when women are educated and economically empowered, violence, illiteracy, disease, poverty and inequality decline.
We invite you to join Run Women Run to add your voice and energy to our efforts to inspire, recruit, train, mentor and support women in public office. By joining Run Women Run, you are making a personal commitment to help increase the number of women in elected office in San Diego County, the State of California and the United States. You are joining a global coalition of women working to bring equality and balance to government and leadership positions, and to create a more prosperous and peaceful world.
Thank you for your interest in supporting women in public office
Barbara Bry
Founder Run Women Run
Michelle Burton
President
Francine Busby
Executive Director
Run Women Run is proud to partner with the following organizations that share our values and mission:
Emily’s List – California List – Women’s Campaign Forum – She Should Run – National Women’s Political Caucus – California Women For Women – The 2012 Project – The Lawyers Club of San Diego – Off the Sidelines
Our 2013 Endorsed Candidates
 Myrtle Cole San Diego City Council District 4 |
 Lorena Gonzalez State Assembly, District 80 |
Lisa Shaffer
After she moved to Encinitas in 2005, Lisa Shaffer began attending city council meetings because she wanted to contribute to her new community. Shaffer, who has a Ph.D. in political science and an MBA, had spent most of her career focused on international activities. “I found that the Encinitas City Council was a closed society, and I felt my voice wasn’t heard,” said Shaffer who was encouraged to run by council members Teresa Barth and Maggie Houlihan who died in 2011.
A year before the election, she made a concerted effort to meet as many people as possible, and she began raising money. “It’s never too early to start your campaign and be honest and authentic,” is her advice. She said that she didn’t have a problem raising money “because I believed in what I was doing. I told people it costs money to run a campaign. If you want me to win, I need money.”
Run Women Run helped her, Shaffer said, through her participation in the Lawyers Club-Run Women Political Boot Camp, by providing opportunities to meet other women elected officials, and through a successful fundraiser at the home of Run Women Run Executive Director Francine Busby.
Kimberley Beatty
In her early career, Kimberley Beatty served as a special agent—sometimes going undercover– with both the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and she earned a law degree with honor from the University of Maryland. After getting married and having four children, she moved to Sabre Springs in 2001. She became involved with the Poway Unified schools starting as a classroom volunteer because she was upset at the lack of resources compared with her oldest son’s prior school in Maryland.
In 2010, she ran and lost (by a small margin) for a seat on the Poway Unified School District Board of Education. “The incentive to run the second time was to build upon the foundation that I had established in the first race as a relative unknown.” said Beatty who was the top vote getter in 2012.
Run Women Run helped her, she said, through her participation in the joint training with EMILY’s List—“the biggest component was learning how to ask for money,” participation in a workshop on how to run for school board, and the opportunity to meet other women elected officials. “After you’re elected, you become a member of a new club and you can feel isolated,” she said.
Support Our 2012 Endorsed Candidates
Our Partners
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