GOHAR SEDIGHI

Executive Director of the Progressive Caucus Action Fund

Gohar comes to PCAF with over fifteen years of experience fighting for economic, gender, and racial equity. Gohar previously served in leadership roles for progressive members of Congress with a successful record of passing laws to improve the lives of students, immigrants, and families. In addition, Gohar worked on programs to reduce achievement gaps while serving in the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama Administration. For several years, Gohar worked to resettle refugees and provide social services to immigrants as a leader of a group of nonprofit organizations in New England. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of California San Diego.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

U.S. Representative from Washington’s 7th District

In Congress, Representative Jayapal has been a leader on immigration, including fighting the Trump Administration’s inhumane policies of separating children from their parents and crafting legislation to create a fair and humane immigration system. She has also championed legislation to address income inequality, such as the $15 minimum wage and expanded collective bargaining rights for workers.  She has worked extensively on health care issues as the lead sponsor of the Medicare for All bill in the House, and she is the author of the College for All Act, which would ensure every American has access to higher education.  She has authored other landmark pieces of progressive legislation including the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Ad, Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, the Housing is a Human Right Act, and the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.  She has also helped to introduce the THRIVE Act and other legislation to transition our economy to 100% clean energy and address the crisis of climate justice.

Representative Jayapal was born in India, grew up in India, Indonesia and Singapore, and came to the United States by herself at the age of 16 to attend college at Georgetown University. She later received her MBA from Northwestern University, worked in a number of industries in both the public and private sectors, and published her first book in 2000, Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland. She has since published a second book, Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change.

Congressman Greg Casar

U.S. Representative from Texas’s 35th District

A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Congressman Casar was sworn into office in January 2023 and serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He will fight to raise wages for millions of American workers, expand immigrant rights, restore abortion rights and voting rights, protect veterans and seniors, and tackle the climate crisis.

Prior to being elected to Congress, he served on the Austin City Council for seven years. There, he championed and passed progressive policies including protections for renters from corporate abuse, ensuring folks with a criminal background have a fair chance at employment, and bold affordable housing programs.

Congressman Casar was also the lead author of progressive labor policies in a so-called “right-to-work” state, helping pass paid sick leave ordinances in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio. In the U.S. House, Congressman Casar has pledged to ensure our government agencies work for working people.

Rahna epting

Executive Director of MoveOn

Rahna Epting is the executive director of MoveOn and MoveOn Political Action, the largest member-led political campaigning organization with nearly ten million members. MoveOn mobilizes the left to win elections and enact progressive change. Before taking on this role she served as MoveOn’s 2018 elections program director. Previously, she served as Every Voice’s Chief of Staff, where she managed state and national campaigns to make democracy work for all. Rahna also led the Service Employees International Union’s political program for members, engaging the powerhouse union’s membership to run for office, fight for passage of the ACA, and lobby their elected officials to advance change. Rahna is a frequent commentator on progressive politics and policy, appearing on broadcast and cable outlets like MSNBC, NBC, CNBC, and in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP, USA Today, and more. 

A graduate of UC Davis and Lewis & Clark Law School, she also sits on Win Without War boards. Follow her on Twitter @rahnamepting.

Congresswoman Summer Lee

U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania’s 12th District

Congresswoman Lee is an organizer, attorney, and progressive legislator born and raised in the Mon Valley where she attended Woodland Hills public schools before graduating from Penn State and Howard University School of Law.

Lee worked as an organizer and led voter mobilization efforts for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party – including against Trump in 2016. In 2017, after repeated incidents of violence against students from police and administrators, Summer led a successful initiative to transform the Woodland Hills School Board. Then, she ran for State House, defeating a 20-year incumbent with over 67% of the vote and making history as the first Black woman from Western Pennsylvania in the legislature. There, she brought home millions for community revitalization and championed workers rights, environmental and racial justice. In 2019, she co-founded UNITE, a grassroots organization that transformed regional politics by electing progressives at various levels, including Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, Ed Gainey.

In 2022, Summer was elected to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th district, again making history as the first Black woman from Western Pennsylvania in Congress. In her first year, Lee brought home an unprecedented >$1 Billion in federal investments to Western Pennsylvania. These investments will help improve the state’s  infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fuel clean manufacturing, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Rep. Lee has also taken leadership positions in a number of caucuses.

Claudia Magaña

Campaigns Director at Unemployed Workers United

At Unemployed Workers United, Magaña’s seasoned organizing and strategic campaigning skills play a vital role in steering UWU's national and state campaigns. Raised in Los Angeles as the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Claudia's commitment to social justice is deeply rooted in her personal experiences. 

Leveraging her expertise in union organizing, community mobilization, and strategic planning, Claudia has played a significant role in elevating key labor fights at both local and national levels, most recently supporting unionization efforts at Amazon and Starbucks. In her previous capacity as the Organizing Director of the LA County Federation of Labor, Claudia established an LA-based organizing institute. Through this institute, she empowered hundreds of union leaders with tailored training programs. She also oversaw several multi-union organizing drives that manifested in membership growth across multiple sectors.

Randi Weingarten

President of the American Federation of Teachers

Randi Weingarten is president of the AFT, a union of 1.7 million teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; higher education faculty and staff; nurses and other healthcare professionals; local, state and federal government employees; and early childhood educators. The AFT is dedicated to the belief that every person in America deserves the freedom to thrive, fueled by opportunity, justice and a voice in our democracy. 

Prior to her election as AFT president in 2008, Weingarten served for 11 years as president of the United Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2, representing approximately 200,000 educators in the New York City public school system, as well as home child care providers and other workers in health, law and education. Weingarten taught history at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood from 1991 to 1997, and helped her students win several state and national awards debating constitutional issues. 

Weingarten was included in Washingtonian’s 2022 Washington’s Most Influential People, and in 2013, the New York Observer named Weingarten one of the most influential New Yorkers of the past 25 years. 

Weingarten holds degrees from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Cardozo School of Law. She worked as a lawyer for the Wall Street firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan from 1983 to 1986. She is an active member of the Democratic National Committee and numerous professional, civic, religious and philanthropic organizations. Born in 1957 and raised in Rockland County, N.Y., Weingarten now resides in the Inwood neighborhood of New York City. 

Congressman Maxwell Frost

U.S. Representative from Florida’s 10th District

As a young Member of Congress and Afro-Latino, Congressman Frost brings a fresh, progressive perspective to an institution formerly out of reach for young, working Black and Latino Americans. 

Frost was inspired to get to work at 15 years old after the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary claimed the lives of 26 innocent people. From that moment on, Frost dedicated his life to fighting against gun violence and empowering communities across Florida and the U.S. to get behind gun reform, including joining forces with those affected by the Parkland and Pulse shootings to shed light on this epidemic.

In Congress, Frost is committed to representing the people of his hometown in Orlando and Central Florida and being their voice in Washington, D.C. Frost is laser-focused on working to deliver change and results on issues of housing affordability, healthcare, abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, transportation, justice reform, climate change and more.

María Teresa Kumar

Co-Founder and President of Voto Latino Foundation

Voto Latino Foundation and Voto Latino are the largest and effective Latino voter registration and Latino youth advocacy organizations in the country, respectively. Fast Company named María Teresa one of the 100 Most Creative Minds, TIME Magazine named her one of thirteen Latinos reshaping industries and the country,  and the Analyst Institute recognized Voto Latino with an Expy Award for expanding the field of voter registration. A sought-after political leader and strategist, she advised President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and she currently serves on the National Task Force on Election Crises. She is an Emmy-nominated analyst for MSNBC and serves on the boards of Steve Madden, Emily’s List, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Additionally, she is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Raised in Sonoma, California. She is a first-generation graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the University of California, Davis.

Maurice Mitchell

National Director of the Working Families Party

Maurice Mitchell is a nationally recognized social movement strategist, a visionary leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and National Director of the Working Families Party. 

Born and raised in New York to Caribbean working-class parents, Maurice began organizing as a teenager—and never stopped. As a high school student, he served as a leader for the Long Island Student Coalition for Peace and Justice. At Howard University, after a classmate was killed by police officers, Maurice led organizing efforts against police brutality and for divestment from private prisons. He went on to work as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, downstate organizing director for Citizen Action of NY, and Director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table.

Two tragedies changed the course of Maurice’s life. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy destroyed his home in Long Beach, NY and left him living in hotels for months. Eighteen months later, after Mike Brown was killed by police in Missouri, Maurice relocated to Ferguson to support organizers on the ground. Seeing the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for Black Lives activists across the country, he co-founded and managed Blackbird. Maurice was a key organizer of the Movement for Black Lives convention in Cleveland in 2015. 

In 2018, Maurice took the helm of the Working Families Party as National Director where he is applying his passion and experience to make WFP the political home for a multi-racial working-class movement.

Amanda Otero

Deputy Director of TakeAction Minnesota

Amanda Otero leads TakeAction Minnesota’s programmatic work to build power and make more possible for Minnesota. She oversees organizing, communications, politics, and campaigns, and works to integrate strategies across the organization and develop the capacity needed to reach organizational goals.

Amanda grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, although her roots come from Mexico and Nicaragua. She has been asking tough questions and organizing those around her for as long as she can remember, but she began organizing more formally in college around the Dream Act. In the 18 years since then, Amanda has experienced organizing in a variety of settings: with Latinx communities in Minnesota, at Catholic Churches, in Central America, as part of electoral campaigns, and in various roles at TakeAction Minnesota throughout her decade with the organization.

Congressman Jamie Raskin

U.S. Representative from Maryland’s 8th District

Elected to Congress the same night in November 2016 that Donald Trump won the presidency, Jamie went to work immediately to rally the Democrats locally and nationally and—as a key Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Oversight and Reform Committee, Rules Committee and Administration Committee—to oppose the lawlessness, corruption and extremism of the Trump Administration.

In the aftermath of January 6, 2021, when Donald Trump incited a violent insurrection against the Constitution and attempted a political coup to block the counting of electoral college votes, Jamie drafted an impeachment article against Trump with his colleagues Ted Lieu, Joe Neguse, and David Cicilline. After the House voted to impeach Trump, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Jamie to become the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial.

Jamie was chosen by his Democratic colleagues in the 118th Congress to lead the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. In that capacity he has organized his extraordinary colleagues to debunk and demolish the GOP’s fraudulent and hapless “impeachment drive” against President Joe Biden. Jamie is also Vice-Chair of Organizing for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the founder and leader of Democracy Summer, the Democrats’ surging nationwide program to engage young people in training for political activism and leadership.

Latosha Brown

Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter