Pro Politics with Zac McCrary Yasmin Radjy, ED of Swing Left, on Grassroots Tactics That Work & Those That May Not
Yasmin Radjy is the Executive Director of Swing Left and Vote Forward, and was featured recently in The Atlantic after her organization released data showing some of ther field and canvassing tactics in the 2024 election did not work. In this conversation, Yasmin talks her family's path as Iranian refugees to the US, how the '08 Obama campaign shifted her perspective on practical politics, founding Resistance School in the aftermath of the 2016 election, her stints as National Political Director at Planned Parenthood and in the Biden Administration, the importance of measuring and disclosing what tactics do and do not work, and the new ideas and projects on which she's focused during an incredibly turbulent time in American politics.
IN THIS EPISODE
Yasmin talks her family's journey as immigrants fleeing the Iranian Revolution of the late 1970s...
The inherent politicization of being an Iranian-American...
Yasmin becomes active in partisan politics while in college...
Yasmin's world is turned upside down knocking doors as a Northern California liberal in small town Ohio in 2008...
Yasmin's take on what makes an effective political organizer...
Yasmin forms "Resistance School" in the aftermath of the 2016 elections - a program utilized by hundreds of thousands of activists...
Yasmin's time as Organizing Director & National Political Director at Planned Parenthood...
How Yasmin took the reins at Swing Left and the role it plays in the progressive infrastructure...
Findings highlighted in a recent Atlantic article of what Swing Left did in 2024 and what worked and didn't work...
Why Yasmin believes it's critical for organizations to publicize findings about its work, especially when programs don't move the needle as planned...
The difference in the aftermath of Trump's 2016 win versus Trump's 2024 win...
Questions Yasmin wants future research to answer to sharpen grassroots activism...
The one trait Yasmin looks for in hiring staff at Swing Left...