The transcript that follows has been edited for length and clarity.
Last we talked a few weeks before Trump took office your recruitment numbers were taking off.
Has that trend continued?
Run for Something is recruiting progressives angered by Trump to run for office. Five alumni are already serving in Congress.SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Most of these people are coming to us for local office.
We have people in every state.
Were seeing people from urban, rural, suburban, exurban areas everywhere.
Its about 70 percent people under the age of 40.
Its been a little more women than men.
I just saw that Run For Something posted atraining for federal workerswhove been ousted in this Trump/DOGE purge.
Tell me about that opportunity.
We have seen organic interest from laid-off federal employees.
Basically every time theres been another agency that has cut workers, weve seen more people signing up.
We wanted to put together programming specifically for them.
So the next candidate intro call were hosting will have a track specifically for laid-off federal employees.
And that will be March 25, in a couple weeks.
What about this population makes a good fit?
Theyre people who are interested in public service.
Im not going to let that stop me.
And a lot of them have been subject to restrictions previously.
So this is your time.
What has that original pipeline developed that makes you excited for whats happening now?
Weve already seen many of our elected officials do really good shit when they get elected.
The work is working.
That is the best part of this.
Its taken us eight years to get to this point.
Because imagine if we didnt exist this past November, December, January.
What would folks do?
Where would this energy go?
It would be lost.
Thats why it is so important to build infrastructure for moments like this when you need it.
Local offices are the only places where you are seeing meaningful progress.
These are the only kinds of places were going to get good governance in the next four years.
Were not going to cooperate.
That really matters in terms of fighting back.
Democratsflippedan Iowa state Senate seat where Trump won by 21 points.
Thats the kind of thing that can help build momentum for winning bigger next year.
Theres a debate about how to message against what Trump and Elon Musk are doing.
The couple times that weve spoken Ive been impressed with your willingness to literally call bullshit, when appropriate.
How does Run for Something approach the challenge of how to communicate in this era.
One of the things I love about working with younger candidates is they dont have to be taught this.
Theyre comfortable and fluent with using online social media channels to communicate, because thats how we live.
Its not like teaching grandma how to use Instagram.
We encourage people to tap into what theyre genuinely thinking and feeling.
If you have a concrete solution, propose it.
Speak genuinely, communicate authentically.
Theyre not good-faith partners in governance.
We should not treat them as such.
You mentioned people running against older members of Congress.
Does that include primarying Jurassic Democrats?
Were going to see some really fun, interesting candidates and compelling campaigns.
Again this is all in my personal capacity.
Run for Something doesnt work on congressional races.
But since I run my mouth about this stuff online a lot, I hear from people.
Its something Im really excited about, too to force some generational turnover and a generational shift in power.
That will be a net good for the Democratic Party.
Primaries are how we decide who we are and what we believe.
And if the incumbents are doing a good job, they should have nothing to worry about.
So Run for Something doesnt shy away from challenging incumbent Democrats either?
When they win, it is almost always because the incumbent was not fully reflecting or serving the community.
If the incumbent was doing a good job, they wouldnt lose the primary.
Are there other pathways or other pipelines that youre trying to develop?
Im really excited about that.
But mission-wise, your focus is under 40?
We exclusively target especially with our endorsement program folks 40 and under.
Explain the process for someone getting started.
How much money do I need to raise?
What if I win?
What if I lose?
And how does a candidate earn an endorsement?
And thats where we do a rigorous deep-dive screen.
Our endorsement tool ispublic, so anyone can access it.
Thats where we really look at background checks.
We want to ensure that youre being honest with us about what were going to find.
Were looking for the best of the best.
And we endorse about half of the people who apply.
And then endorsements are when our campaigns team will work closely with your team as a candidate.
That might look like helping you get access to the voter file.
It might look like prepping you for a forum or a debate.
Well make vendor recommendations.
Endorsed candidates are who we recommend to press for interviews, who we promote on social media.
And then endorsed candidates are the people who we track through to election day.
So when we talk about the nearly 1,500 people weve helped elect, thats of our endorsed candidates.
We just focus our staff time and resources on those endorsed folks.
How long does it take for someone to go from signing up to getting on the ballot?
And how can we help find it or provide it ourselves?
Put together stuff for parents of young kids running for office.
The candidate demand is so high, and we are trying to double-check we can meet it.
Every dollar goes to that kind of work, andmonthly moneygoes a long way for us right now.
