State Progress

A Discussion on Progressive State Victories in the Mid-term Elections

December 4, 2006, 2:00pm – 3:30pm

About This Event

Justice Louis Brandeis once referred to the states as the “laboratories of democracy.” The midterm elections of 2006 proved voters were tired of the failed conservative experiment of governance in these “laboratories” and chose candidates, ballot measures and referenda which reflect progressive values and ideas that advance the common good. Please join the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center as we discuss progressive victories in statehouses, governorships and ballot measures in the 2006 mid-term elections and provide thoughts on what these victories mean for states. Featured Panelists:
Kristina Wilfore, Executive Director, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center
Gloria Totten, Executive Director, Progressive Majority
Ruy Teixeira, Senior Fellow Center for American Progress Action Fund

Moderated by:
John Halpin, Senior Fellow Center for American Progress Action Fund

Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Kristina Wilfore is the executive director of Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and is the nation’s go-to expert on ballot initiatives. Because of her pragmatic and proactive approach, BISC’s Board of Directors recruited Kristina to lead the organization in 2002. She was one of the first progressive strategists to focus exclusively on ballot initiatives, and she brings over ten years experience with hundreds of ballot initiatives to BISC and BISC Foundation. Previously, Kristina directed the Center for Policy Alternatives Communications department and led training workshops for over 1000 state legislators and activists each year. Prior to working in Washington, DC, she helped found the Economic Opportunity Institute in Washington State. Kristina has been interviewed on Fox News, CNN, NBC and recently appeared on PBS’ NOW. She is a regular source for publications such as Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Nation, among others. She was recognized as one of Campaigns and Election’s “Rising Stars of 2004,” and she is the recipient of the Women’s Information Network Young Woman of Achievement Award.

Gloria Totten is the executive director of Progressive Majority. Prior to that, she served as political director for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL). At NARAL, she ran a multi-million-dollar department budget that was more than $9 million in 2000 and was responsible for all of the electoral and political organizing work, as well as managing NARAL's 27 state affiliates. While there, Gloria also worked to develop the organization's first nationwide pro-choice voter file, which consisted of 2.9 million pro-choice identified voters in 2000. She also devised all of NARAL's advocacy campaigns, including numerous ballot initiative campaigns, legislative battles, and the Stop Ashcroft! campaign in 2001. From 1993-1996, Gloria was the executive director for Maryland NARAL. During her tenure, she served as the organization's chief lobbyist and strategist, chairperson for the state pro-choice coalition, director of the political action committee, and was responsible for raising the annual operating and program budgets. In her home state of Minnesota, Gloria worked as the education director for Pro-Choice Resources, president and lobbyist for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and as a grassroots organizer on campaigns from the presidential to mayoral levels.

Ruy Teixeira is a Joint Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and The Century Foundation. He is the author of five books, over a hundred articles, both scholarly and popular, and a weekly online column, Public Opinion Watch. His latest book is The Emerging Democratic Majority, written with John Judis (Scribner, 2002). Probably the most widely-discussed political book of the year, The Emerging Democratic Majority generated praise across the political spectrum, from George Will on the right to E.J. Dionne on the left, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by The Economist magazine. Teixeira holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution where he wrote the book, The Disappearing American Voter, now a standard reference work on voter turnout. The book was published in 1992, after which he moved to the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank of the Democratic Leadership Council, to start a political studies program for them. In 1994, he moved to another think tank, the Economic Policy Institute, to direct their Politics and Public Opinion Program and stayed there until 1999, when he moved to The Century Foundation. In 2000, he published America's Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters (Basic Books), a widely-cited and controversial work credited with being a strong influence on the Gore campaign and selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post.

John Halpin is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund focusing on progressive theory, strategy, and opinion analysis. His current research and writing is focused on developing and communicating a progressive public philosophy centered on the common good. Halpin also serves as a Senior Advisor to American Progress helping to guide the Center's choices of where to invest its own programmatic resources and assisting John Podesta in making recommendations to the nonprofit progressive community and its donors as they seek to focus their efforts toward more effective investments. Halpin has been with American Progress since 2003, serving as the Director of Research and a communications advisor. Prior to joining American Progress, Halpin was as a Senior Associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, providing strategic guidance and opinion research for political campaigns and issue organizations. In this capacity, he managed quantitative and qualitative research for the Gore-Lieberman 2000 campaign, the British Labour Party, the Austrian Social Democrats, and a range of congressional, state legislative, and initiative campaigns in the U.S as well as organizational efforts for SEIU, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Justice at Stake, and the Open Society Institute. Halpin received his B.A. from Georgetown University and his M.A. in American politics and political theory from the University of Colorado, Boulder.