REPRESENTATION, POLITICS AND MONEY: A SCREENING GUIDE “I’m running because of Cori Bush. I’m running because of Paula Jean Swearengin. I’m running because everyday Americans deserve to be represented by everyday Americans.” - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 About the Film 5 Letter from Director, Rachel Lears 6 Using the Guide Tips for Leading Conversations Pre-Screening Discussion Questions 9 Post-Screening Background and Context Who Knocked in 2018? Representation: Who is in Congress and Why it Matters How Money Works in Elections The Politics of Elections 25 Get Involved Share the Film Spark Conversations Across Party Lines Vote and Get Out the Vote Support a Candidate Run for Office 33 Resources for Further Learning 3 ABOUT THE FILM Knock Down the House is the story of four working-class women who embraced the challenge of running for Congressional office in the 2018 midterm elections. They are four of the record numbers who organized grassroots campaigns, rejected corporate PAC money and challenged the notion that everyday people cannot run successful campaigns against sitting incumbents. Collectively these candidates herald a cultural and political shift to transform the process of running and electing our representatives. Such changes do not occur in a vacuum, nor are they about a singular issue. Rather they are about changing the attitudes, behaviors, terms, and outcomes of existing and entrenched norms and building to- wards a more inclusive and representative government. 4 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR, RACHEL LEARS I’ve been making films about politics since the days of Occupy Wall Street. After having a baby in 2016, I thought I might take a break from political filmmaking—but the day after the election, I knew I had no choice. I wanted to tell a big story in this new political reality about people working across cultural and geographical divides to change American politics in big ways. That same day I contacted the progressive organizations Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats to propose a documentary project about their plan to forge a new path to Congress for “extraordinary ordinary” working people. That project has become Knock Down the House. While I did not set out to make a film focusing on women running for Congress, during the casting process it became clear to me that the stories of Alexandria, Paula Jean, Cori, and Amy would resonate not only with the larger zeitgeist of women’s empowerment, but also with deeply personal aspects of my own experience. As a woman, I identify strongly with these candidates’ struggles to overcome self-doubt and the underestimation of others, and to turn adversity, pain, and loss into a new vision of leadership. As a mother of a young child, I have to believe that a better world is possible—and I’m deeply moved and inspired by the fierce drive of these four women to protect their children and their communities. And as a working mother who, at times in my life, has struggled to make ends meet, the issues our characters address such as access to affordable healthcare, child care, and housing have affected me directly in ways that have shaped my adult life. For over a decade I’ve investigated the way power and social change work. Too often, communities operate separately in silos and their struggles end up pitted against one another in media narratives. We won’t have systemic change until we overcome this. At this critical and volatile moment, Knock Down the House presents a story of people working tirelessly to unite the struggles of all Americans. 5 USING THE GUIDE 6 This guide is a tool to support house and community screenings of the acclaimed Netflix documentary Knock Down the House. The film, guide, and conversations it aims to foster are an opportunity for communities to have nonpartisan exchanges on what it takes to win an election, what it means to have transparent fundraising and campaigns, and, ultimately, how to elect a Congressional leadership that truly reflects all of America. TIPS FOR LEADING CONVERSATIONS Knock Down the House comes at a time when our nation feels deeply divided along party lines, and even within the major parties themselves. The hope is that the film and the conversations it will engender can galvanize people toward engagement in many ways, not for one end or any particular party, but in the interest of promoting democracy. Reviewing these guidelines beforehand will help you prepare for your event and lead a productive conversation. The candidates in this film run for Congress against great odds. Their SPOTLIGHT HOPE energy and motivations are an inspiration. Though not all of the candidates won, focusing on what they did well, what they achieved, AND SOLUTIONS and the different avenues to involvement their stories revealed will help your group carry the energy from the film into their own lives. As facilitator, your passion and energy will set the tone for the SHARE YOUR conversation. As you watch the film and read through this guide, consider what you hope your event will achieve and share that with PASSION your group. People at your screening event will likely arrive with varying ALLOW FOR feelings about the issues that are raised in the film. You can keep your conversation moving forward by focusing, as the film does, DIFFERENT on the motivations of the individuals in the film and on the themes of representation, money, and political structures in elections. All PERSPECTIVES of these issues are currently being questioned and explored across party lines. 7 When different perspectives do come up, invite your group to see FOCUS ON the conversation as one that is meant to create understanding, rather than change minds. In order to do that, ask them to focus on LISTENING listening with the intention of understanding before responding with their own point of view. INCORPORATE Inviting a diverse panel of community stakeholders is a proven EXPERT AND way to engage your group after a screening. Local activists, prior candidates, elected officials from the school board to the state COMMUNITY legislature, community-based organizations, and academics focused on politics and elections are a great place to start when looking for VOICES panel participants. PRE-SCREENING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Before starting any screening event it can be helpful to engage the group with opening questions to focus attention and seed their thinking with the topics you plan to return to following the film. Here are a few suggestions: • What are three essential things candidates need to win an election today? • Alternatively, what are three reasons why candidates do not win their election? • What role do you think money plays in electing candidates today? • What are the differences in tactics and strategies between a grassroots movement and the “machine” of a political party? 8 POST-SCREENING BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 9 POST-SCREENING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Before delving more deeply into the specific topics of representation, money, and politics, consider posing some general questions for your group to share their immediate reflections. • What did this film make you think about the future of the American Congress? • Did the film change your ideas about what it takes to win an election today? • What moments stood out to you in the film as new or surprising? • What traits did you see in the candidates in this film that you’d like to see in your representative? • What did you see in the film that made you skeptical or concerned about the current election process? • What did you see that made you feel hopeful for the future? Who Knocked in 2018? The candidates we meet in Knock Down the House hope to change the U.S. Congress so that it looks more like the nation it serves. They are all women. They all come from working-class families. Two of them are women of color. In these ways, they are representative of many ways in which the 2018 election broke ground and broke records:1 Voter turnout was higher More women, people The youngest woman than in any midterm of color, and LGBTQ was elected to (non-presidential) people were elected Congress, Alexandria women ran for election since to Congress than ever Ocasio-Cortez, at age Congress. 255 in the history of the in the general nation. election. The previous record during 1992’s “Year of the Woman” was 117.2 AND THERE WERE SEVERAL FIRSTS: The firstNATIVE The firstMUSLIM The first openly AMERICAN women women elected to BISEXUAL woman elected to Congress Congress. elected to Congress. This interactive graphic shows how the 2018 elections increased the diversity of the House of Representatives in terms of race, age, gender and sexual orientation. 1. Grace Panetta, S. G. (2018, November 07). 12 records the 2018 midterm elections smashed. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider. com/2018-midterm-election-records-early-voting-women-lgbt-candidates-2018-11 2. Kamarck, E. (2018, November 08). 2018: Another ‘Year of the Woman’. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/ fixgov/2018/11/07/2018-another-year-of-the-woman/ 10 THE CANDIDATES — WHY THEY RAN CORI BUSH MISSOURI 1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT “I’m a registered nurse. I’m an ordained pastor, and I’m the mother of two teenagers. I wasn’t trying to become an activist. Didn’t set out to do that. This is the district where Mike Brown was murdered. I only live six minutes from Ferguson. It was like a battle zone at home. I took to the streets to lend a hand as a nurse. What I was wanting to see was justice happen. It didn’t happen so, I just kept going back again and again.