Lisa B. Nelson on FreedomWorks Women Win 2020 Panel

Days before International Women’s Day and in the first week of Women’s History Month, ALEC Chief Executive Officer Lisa B. Nelson participated in a panel discussion at the FreedomWorks Women Win 2020 Conference. The conference brought together 100 women from across the country to discuss health care, school choice, the growing economy and the topics that will win the suburban vote in November.

At the panel titled “Informed. Engaged. Empowered.” Nelson shared the stage with moderator Lauren Chen from BlazeTV, who spoke at the 2019 ALEC States and Nation Policy Summit; Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founder of the Tea Party Patriots and Grace-Marie Turner, President of the Galen Institute.

It was the first panel of the conference, and the discussion was centered on what it means to be a market-minded woman and why female voices have an outsized importance in the political process.

Beginning with what first sparked an interest in politics for the panelists and quickly moving into what issues women should be engaging in and supporting each other in today (spoiler alert: it’s all issues), each panelist on stage offered a unique perspective to how women can be most impactful in key areas going into 2020.

Nelson urged the women in the room to work together and build a permanent freedom infrastructure in the states to provide the tools needed to keep messaging strong and consistent throughout election cycles.

“Go home and take inventory of what you have in your states, and then come to us and say ‘we have grassroots, but we need someone to help write the messaging’ or ‘we have a writer but we don’t have grassroots,’” said Nelson. “Think about building your own infrastructure that fits with the other freedom-loving groups that are out there.”

Additionally, Nelson highlighted that the common misconception when talking about “women’s issues” is that women are falsely victimized in the process, and that top issues for market-minded women to engage in the states are those that support free markets and Federalism.

Turner said health care is a top issue for women in 2020, and Martin encouraged the grassroots activists to ask people, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

ALEC Vice President of Policy Advancement Sherry Street participated in a panel titled “Greater Educational Freedom: Your Child. Your Choice.” The two-day conference also featured sessions on Trumponomics, the importance of social media and the case against Socialism.

Follow this link to watch the entire “Informed. Engaged. Empowerd.” panel discussion.

Watch Lauren Chen discuss millennial voter outreach on ALEC TV.

Watch Lauren Chen speak at the 2019 ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit here.