As we look forward to new Sister Races in 2018, here is a look back at the experiences of two volunteers in 2017.

Sister District Project (SDP): So who are you and how did you get involved in SDP?

Catherine Grundmann (CMG): My name is Catherine Grundmann. I’m a Bay Area native, so I’ve lived almost all of life in a state and community with a dependably liberal government. (I feel very lucky about that, especially now.) But because my local and state governments do more or less what I would hope, and because I thought I would need far more experience, time and money than I have to make a difference in national politics, I never was involved in politics on any level before Sister District Project.

That all changed after Trump and the current Congress were elected. At the precise moment I experienced a huge motivation to find a way to make a difference in politics outside my state and community, Sister District offered a perfect way to do it.

What sold me on Sister District was the excellent but simple strategy: by supporting progressive candidates in small but strategic legislative races in other states, I can actually help make a difference in a way I can’t in my own state or in national races.

The best thing about the Sister District strategy is that it has expanded my political world to encompass each of the United States. I feel united with progressive candidates and voters throughout the country.

Lisa Diaz Nash (LDN): I am Lisa Diaz Nash. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for almost 27 years, but originally come from New Jersey and Peoria, Illinois. My business career has been as a consumer marketer and social entrepreneur, but I’ve been involved since college in supporting and organizing around a wide variety of progressive causes, from Planned Parenthood to national political campaigns. I went full-time as a political organizer in 2015 as a co-founder of Entrepreneurs for Hillary. It was a powerful and exhilarating experience.

The aftermath of the November 2016 elections was devastating for me. Knowing that the next four years would be difficult at the national political level, and understanding that most of the laws that impacted my daily life were made at the state and local level, I went searching for an organization, or individuals, who wanted to help Democrats win back a majority of state legislatures.

I found it in Sister District Project, and in Catherine Grundmann and Marni Rubin. Being able to channel the energy of fellow frustrated progressives where I lived to help progressives in swing states win state legislature seats is incredibly motivating and, as we saw with the Virginia elections, incredibly effective. Doing this work with so many truly wonderful people has made every day something I look forward to.

SDP: You went the extra mile by heading up CA14 as a District Captain. What brought you to that decision and has it been different to work with SDP than what you expected?

CMG: With no experience of any kind in politics, it was daunting to take on the role of launching our district for Sister District Project. I debated whether to do it for weeks. But I decided to view it as an opportunity, and thought, “If not me, who?”.

The phone banking and postcard writing seemed straight forward, but the fundraising side felt both difficult and a bit uncomfortable. Who wants to ask people for money?

But then my Co-Captain Marni Rubin joined me and said she actually wanted to do fundraising. And Lisa Diaz Nash joined our team, providing us a wealth of political experience and savvy. Then we had our Kick Off party — we hoped we would get 20 people to come, but we got over 60. We realized a whole community of people were out there who wanted to do something to make a difference, too.

The other best thing about Sister District is that it has given us this community — I’ve come to know dozens of wonderful people I would otherwise have never met. And this community keeps growing — it has more than doubled since our Kick Off party.

Here’s something really wonderful: the people in this growing community not only want to do something to make a difference, they also want to meet and get to know one another. So CA14 hosted 10 fundraisers this year, all well attended. The secret has been to charge no more than what our members would pay to go out anyway, and to space out the events so our members can come to several.

With this approach, and “matching donations” at each event, CA14 was able to donate significant amounts to both of our sister candidates, Kathy Tran and Cheryl Turpin, making a far bigger impact than we had dreamed was possible when we started.

LDN: I had political organizing and business startup experience that I thought could help Sister District grow. Sister District is a political startup, and that excites me. It started with a smart strategy, but it had to apply that strategy in endless ways to a blank piece of paper to be successful. All startups have up and down days, and Sister District is no different. But it has been so rewarding to see Sister District grow in our community, and across the country, and feel that I’m contributing to that growth in a meaningful way.

Beyond that, I second everything that Catherine said!

SDP: What has it been like supporting Cheryl Turpin, especially given the fact her district voted for Donald Trump last year and she had never run for office before this year?

CMG: I’ll admit I was a bit worried. When I first heard Cheryl speak, I could tell that she wasn’t a “politician”, she was a normal person. She could have been one of my friends. She could have been me. But then it hit me that this was part of the beauty and huge potential of the movement we are witnessing of people getting into politics — especially women — who never had been in politics before. We don’t need polished politicians to have effective progressive government. We need committed, capable “ordinary” people — as many as possible.

We don’t need polished politicians to have effective progressive government. We need committed, capable “ordinary” people — as many as possible.

Cheryl Turpin is not ordinary at all, actually. She jumped into the special election last December after her House seat became vacant, because there was no Democrat running AT ALL. She did this even though she only had 6 weeks to campaign and despite the fact the seat has been held by a Republican since 1984. That’s courage.

Something else extraordinary about Cheryl Turpin that isn’t discussed much, is that after Virginia instituted a voter ID law kicking 200,000 voters off the rolls in 2013, she joined a team and helped obtain new ID’s for 26,000 voters.

We knew the pundits didn’t think Cheryl had a chance and that she wasn’t getting as much coverage as other Democratic challengers. But that just meant our donations and postcards and phone calls for Cheryl were even more valuable to her campaign. I think her underdog status motivated us more, not less. And she had the best campaign staff; we worked with Daniel and Jason in particular.

But working with Cheryl Turpin herself was best of all. She and Kathy Tran “appeared” via Skype at one of our events, so we needed to do a tech check to make sure it would work. When my husband called the number we were given, expecting to get Daniel, Cheryl answered the phone, in her kitchen. We had trouble getting the sound to work, so Cheryl had to talk and talk and talk into her phone while we tried to figure out how to get the sound to come through. She was utterly relaxed and patient, she couldn’t have been nicer. Then, when she appeared, everyone just fell in love with her — she was so down to earth and sensible describing her plans, goals and priorities. It was 8 p.m. California time when she spoke to us, 11 p.m. Virginia time. This was in the thick of the campaign, but I asked if she had been teaching that day and was so surprised when she said yes — she had been up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for her classes! She had been working 17 and one half hours straight, teaching all day and campaigning all evening, but acted like it was no big deal at all.

CA14 was lucky to have been assigned Cheryl Turpin as one of our sister races in 2017. I hope we are as lucky next year.

LDN: Everything about supporting Cheryl Turpin made sense to me. She has been an active member of her community for many years and her work as an AP science teacher put her in daily contact with two of the most important issues: how to educate our children so they can be successful and our communities can be vibrant, and how to protect our environment for future generations.

I loved the way she connected with people across Virginia Beach and even took the time to call her supporters along the way, including a call I received one afternoon out of the blue. I felt like I was catching up with an old friend and it was great to hear the passion in her voice when she talked about what she wanted to do for her community and for Virginia if elected.

A big part of why Democrats don’t have majorities in more state legislatures is that we haven’t “turned up.” We’ve focused on national elections and did not run candidates in many state races. Well, Cheryl wasn’t going to let that happen, even if she only had 6 weeks to campaign in the special election, and even if she was running for a seat that had been held by Republicans for a very long time. Cheryl’s campaign also was a perfect opportunity to show how Sister District can make a real difference. I couldn’t be happier with Cheryl’s victory, and with the way she took the high road despite her opponent’s refusal to concede. Cheryl will serve Virginia well.