There have been two major changes to the curriculum since the Campaign School at Yale opened its doors in 1994 to train female candidates and campaign staffers.
Fundraising techniques are a bigger part of the intensive five-day training program of the non-profit, which is housed within the school but not officially part of it, and so is candidate security.
“This was something that we really didn’t deal with before,” said Patti Russo, executive director of the school. “Now we’ve got people stalking you, trolling you, videotaping your kids going to school.”
Russo, who’s currently reviewing applications for her 28th class in June, continued: “We are seeing more and more of our grads who are candidates who are being stalked by their opponents or just by local, difficult people. So we want to prepare them. These are things that when I was starting my career over 30 years ago, these were just not things that we ever had to deal with, but we do [now].”
Russo trains not just female candidates on how to run for public office, but also female managers on how to run races. She’s seen more woman want to become managers in recent years — particularly those who have had other leadership jobs on a campaign, albeit not the top one.
“The last couple of years, it’s been a 50-50 split in that we have 50 percent of our students who are running for office, or are planning a run, and the other 50 percent are campaign management. So that has been evolving and changing,” she said.
But with so many members of Congress heading for the exits this cycle, is she worried about good people choosing not to run?
Not at all, Russo said. “I know we need more women running. I know we need smart, interested, passionate, determined women running. I know that when women run for office, they bring their life experience with them,” she said. “I love creating rockstar candidates.”
Applications for the school close April 8th.
