As part of our “Women on Wednesdays” series, please join the Women & Politics Institute for a virtual conversation with Parker Hamilton Poling, Executive Director, National Republican Congressional Committee  and Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN), Recruitment Chair, National Republican Congressional Committee. WPI Executive Director Betsy Fischer Martin will facilitate the conversation.

Republican women are helping to drive a surge in female candidates running for the House in 2020.  The National Republican Campaign Committee says it has a total of 223 GOP women running this year.  After a disappointing showing in the 2018 midterms, what’s behind their efforts to recruit more candidates and change the culture within the party when it comes to supporting women in primary elections?  Who are some of the GOP “women to watch”?

Rep. Susan Brooks represents Indiana’s 5th district, which spans eight urban, suburban, and rural counties in central Indiana, including the northside of Indianapolis. She was first elected to the House in 2012 and will be retiring after her current term. In January 2019, she was appointed to head recruitment efforts for the NRCC. Before her time in Congress, Brooks served as US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. In this position, she received bipartisan acclaim for her efforts to battle mortgage fraud, gun violence, drug trafficking, gangs, child exploitation, and identity theft.

Parker Hamilton Poling was named Executive Director of the NRCC in January 2019. She had previously served as Chief of Staff to Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry from 2007 to 2018. She was Assistant to the Director of Media Affairs in the White House in the administration of President George W. Bush and served as Communications Coordinator on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. She has also worked for the Leadership Institute and several political campaigns. In 2018, she was named to Politico Playbook’s PowerList: Women to Watch.

Betsy Fischer Martin is an Emmy-winning journalist and former TV news executive. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University and a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs, where she teaches courses on campaigns and elections. During her earlier career in television news, she spent 23 years at NBC News serving as the longtime Executive Producer of Meet the Press with Tim Russert and as the Managing Editor of NBC News Political Programming.

"Women on Wednesdays" - Election Watch: Republican Women in 2020 with Rep. Susan Brooks and Parking Poling