Because I can tell you if it wasn't for amazing organizations like Emerge, I wouldn't be here today in a position that I am running for governor.

And, you know, hearing the same conversations about electability and, you know, having our experience, you know, question and our credentials undermined.

It is truly unfortunate. And so it's about time other people acknowledge our power. And it's wonderful organizations like Emerge who help us wield it and be able to use it as a tool to be able to get it.

And so it's wonderful to be able to get it in positions of power because in the words of former Supreme Court Justice, Rebecca Ginsburg, we deserve to be where all the decisions are being made.

This is Sarah and Beth. You're listening to Pantsy Politics, the home of Graceville Political Conversations.

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Pantsy Politics on today's show. We're going to share our conversation with Ashanti Gowlar, the president of Emerge and Jennifer Carol Foy and Emerge graduate.

And former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and current candidate for governor of Virginia about her run.

In the main segment of the show, we couldn't wait to share this conversation we had with Anne Helen Peterson with all of you.

We talked about childcare with her for our upcoming infrastructure series this summer. But we also had a conversation where we talked about the politics of teacher appreciation week. And we just had to share it with all of you.

So that's in the main segment. And as always, we'll end the show by talking about what's on our mind outside of politics.

As we start to jump into this episode, I just wanted to express that we are thinking about all of you living in the Gulf Coast region who have experienced dangerous flash flooding and power outages this week.

There have been several deaths and just just thinking about all of you as we get into that kind of weather and the damages that last for long periods of time after.

Okay, so first up, we are going to share our conversation with the Shantigo LAR and Jennifer Carol Foy as an Emerge graduate. I am so thrilled to share this conversation with all of you with a Shantigo LAR who is the president of Emerge, which is a training program for Democratic women considering public office and Jennifer Carol Foy who we've had on the show before when she was newly elected to the Virginia House of delegates.

And now that she's running for governor, we knew we wanted to have her back on the show and we're excited to share this conversation with all of you.

Jennifer, tell us about the decision to leave the House of delegates to run for governor because I feel like that's a little out of the ordinary. Most people just want to do all the things.

And I think that your decision to prioritize is not only fascinating, but truly important for this moment in American history.

Yeah, absolutely. So thank you so much, honor to be here with you all first and foremost. And so I have to say that resigning my seat in the House of delegates was one of the most difficult decisions I had to make.

You know, I worked very hard to be able to win that seat in the first place. I was running while being pregnant with twins.

I tell that story all the time. I'll talk about you. You're like in my, you're like in my standard play of stories. I'm like, well, let me tell you about this delegate we met in Virginia.

Yeah, like you want to talk hard. Let me tell you hard. Uh huh. Yes, that's right. And then I'm flipping a seat from red to blue being outrace four to one.

It was the challenge. It was very difficult. And even though I know I'd be outraised, I knew I would never be outworked. So, you know, being the voice for the people in the second district was the honor of a lifetime. We got some great things done.

I was able to clean up toxic coal ash with people in my district will be in poison from the top fossil fuel company in Virginia that was seeking lead our sicka mercury into their well drinking water made Virginia 38 states and shine women's equality into the United States Constitution.

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