Gloria Totten

Gloria Totten

Gloria A. Tottenis the President of Progressive Majority, a national multi-issue organization dedicated to electing progressive champions at the state and local levels. Totten created Progressive Majority in 2001, first focusing on electing progressive champions to the U.S. Congress. Then, realizing the urgent need for progressives to have their own "farm team" of progressive candidates, She developed what is now the most comprehensive national progressive candidate recruitment program in the country. Under Gloria's leadership, Progressive Majority has established permanent state offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. She has also worked to establish the Racial Justice Campaign, a Progressive Majority program to prioritize the election of candidates of color.

Education

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Activism

Gloria Totten served as Political Director for NARAL from 1996-2001. There she ran NARAL's largest department - overseeing the organization's electoral work, grassroots organizing and field program, and managing 27 state affiliates. During the 2000 elections, Gloria implemented a more than $12 million electoral program, running simultaneous independent expenditure campaigns in 16 states for the Presidential, 8 Senate races, and 24 House races. Gloria worked to develop NARAL's first nationwide pro-choice voter file, which was the strongest in the country with 2.9 million pro-choice identified voters by the time she left her position. She also devised all of NARAL's advocacy campaigns, including numerous ballot initiative campaigns, legislative battles and the Stop Ashcroft! Campaign in 2001.

From 1993-1996 Gloria was the Executive Director for Maryland NARAL. During her tenure, she served as the organization's chief lobbyist and strategist, chairperson for the state pro-choice coalition, director of the PAC, and was responsible for raising the annual operating and program budgets. Gloria was a recognized leader in the NARAL Pro-Choice America network: she served as affiliate representative to the national NARAL Pro-Choice America Board of Directors; and her affiliate was the recipient of the 1993 Campus Organizing Award, 1994 Diversity Organizing Award and 1995 Outstanding Affiliate Award.

In her home state of Minnesota, Gloria worked on a number of campaigns, including Sharon Sayles Belton for Mayor of Minneapolis, Paul Wellstone's 1990 campaign for U.S. Senate, and the Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis and Tom Harkin Presidential campaigns. She also worked as the Education Director for Pro-Choice Resources, President and Lobbyist for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Media Chair for It's Time Minnesota! She has dedicated her professional and volunteer time to progressive issues ranging from rallying for workers' rights to expanding the definition of the Minnesota Human Rights Code.

Totten serves on the Boards of Directors for Advocates for Youth, Gadflyer.com and True Majority ACTION PAC. She is the President of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and an Advisory Committee Member for the Women's Information Network, the Drum Major Institute Scholars Program and Wellstone Action. Gloria Totten was named a "Rising Star of Politics" in 2002 by Campaigns & Elections magazine.

Woolsey/Sheinbaum fund raiser

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, the first Member of Congress to call on the President to bring our troops home, was be in Los Angeles on Saturday February 4th 2006, for a 'very exciting but critical fundraiser against the most well-known, well-financed challenger she's ever faced". woolsey was facing a primary challenge from a termed-out Assemblyman Joe Nation, a moderate Democrat who has been critical of her stand on the war and on bringing home our troops. He is raising money from people who have given money to Tom DeLay and Bush-Cheney and his legislative district covers 60+% of Congresswoman Woolsey's district. Congresswoman Woolsey is a "champion of equal rights, civil liberties, protecting the environment and fighting for single payer healthcare. Congresswoman Woolsey must be re-elected by the same victory margin she has had in the past to send a message to progressives everywhere that's it IS OK to be courageous, and to not back down on issues that matter."

The Host Committee for this fundraiser includes:

Ben Affleck; Ed Asner; Warren Beatty; Jodie Evans; James Cromwell; Matt Damon; Tom Hayden; Wendy Herzog; Mimi Kennedy; Norman Lear; Stephen Rohde; Susie Shannon; Stanley Sheinbaum & Betty Sheinbaum; Lorraine Sheinberg; Kathy Spillar; Gloria A. Totten; Peg Yorkin; Senator Barbara Boxer; Congressman Joe Baca; Congressman Xavier Becerra; Congresswoman Lois Capps; Congresswoman Jane Harman; Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald; Congresswoman Grace Napolitano; Congresswoman; Lucille Roybal-Allard; Congresswoman Linda Sanchez; Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez; Congressman Adam Schiff; Congresswoman Hilda Solis; Congresswoman Maxine Waters; Congresswoman Diane Watson; Senator Sheila Kuehl and Assemblywoman Karen Bass.

The fundraiser was at the Stanley & Betty Sheinbaum residence in Brentwood. Both Sheinbaums have been members of Democratic Socialists of America.

National Leading From the Inside Out Alum

Gloria Totten, Progressive Majority, was a 2006 Rockwood Leadership Institute National Leading From the Inside Out Alum.

Take Back America

On March 17, 2008, Michael Podhorzer, Matt Stoller, Gloria Totten and Kristina Wilfore spoke in a session entitled "Election 2008: The Map", at that year's Take Back America conference.

Take Back the American Dream Conference 2011

Gloria Totten was one of the 158 speakers who addressed the Take Back the American Dream Conference 2011 . The Conference was hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, and Democratic Socialists of America dominated Campaign for America's Future,

Progressives in an Obama world

On February 26 2009, Mike Lux, Miles Rapoport of Demos, Deepak Bhargava of Center for Community Change, and Gloria Totten of Progressive Majority spoke at the Center for Community Change in New York at a forum entitled"Progressives in an Obama World: The Role of the Progressive Movement in a Democratically Controlled Washington".

The forum blurb identified Obama as a "progressive" and went on to say;

Since the 2004 election, the progressive movement has built a powerful infrastructure of think tanks, media outlets and advocacy organizations. Frustrated by the conservative ascendancy and the dominance of conservative ideas, individuals and institutions have put forward new paradigms for government and promoted a bold vision for the future.

But now a progressive holds the highest office in the land. As the movement struggles to define its role in the Obama era, important questions remain unanswered: What is the role of such organizations in Washington and how can they best create political space for Obama to act? On what issues should the movement compromise and on which take strong stands? How can progressives build consensus to make their efforts more effective?

The panel will feature progressive leaders Deepak Bhargava, Miles Rapoport and Mike Lux; the speakers will draw on two new books, ‘Thinking Big: Progressive Ideas for a New Era,’ and The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, as they discuss what progressives can do to create momentum for greater boldness at a time when opportunities and challenges abound.

Wellstone Action

In 2009 Gloria Totten was listed as a member of the Advisory Board of Wellstone Action, a Minnesota based organization based on the political legacy of that state’s late ‘progressive” Senator Paul Wellstone.

Wellstone Action and Wellstone Action Fund combine to form a national center for training and leadership development for the progressive movement. Founded in January 2003, Wellstone Action's mission is to honor the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone by continuing their work through training, educating, mobilizing and organizing a vast network of progressive individuals and organizations.

Drum Major Institute

In 2009 Gloria Totten, Executive Director of Progressive Majority was listed as a member of the Drum Major Institute DMI Scholars Advisory Council

Ballot Initiatives Strategy Center

The board of the Ballot Initiatives Strategy Center is made up of Karen Ackerman of AFL-CIO, Earl Bender of Avenel Associates, Mary Jean Collins of People for the American Way, John Jameson of Winning Connections, Mike Lux of Progressive Strategies, Matt McKinnon of International Association of Machinists, John Ost of American Federation of Teachers, Amy Pritchard of AP Campaigns and Mission Control, Will Robinson of The New Media Group, Larry Scanlon of AFSCME, Gloria Totten of Progressive Majority, Lisa Turner of The Turner Group, LLC, Gail Tuzzolo of Gail Tuzzolo Associates, Michael J. Wilson of United Food and Commercial Workers union, Carrie Pugh of the National Education Association, Jon Youngdahl of Service Employees International Union, Michael Ettlinger of Center for American Progress, Heather Holdridge of Care2, Bernie Horn of Campaign for America's Future, Hans Johnson of Progressive Victory, Laurie Moskowitz of Fieldworks, Crystal Plati (consultant and former Executive Director of ChoiceUSA), and Daniel Smith, Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

PAC+ Oakland kick-off event

Steve Phillips October 30, 2013 near Oakland, CA ·

At PAC+ Oakland kick-off event. Happy to be in Oaktown!! — with Gloria Totten, Cedric Brown, Jennifer Pae, Aimee Allison and Ludovic Blain.

PowerPac+ Board of Directors

PowerPAC+ Board of Directors, as of 2014 included Gloria Totten - Washington DC President of Progressive Majority.