On Sept. 30, the Democracy in Troubled Times speaker series featured Tana Setmayer, discussing the importance of mobilizing women voters to a crowd of over 80 people at Old Chapel Great Hall.

“As we looked at the [political] landscape this year, we said women are going to make the difference,” Setmayer said.

Setmayer is a former CNN commentator and former GOP communications director. She co-founded and is the chief executive officer of the Seneca Project, “a bipartisan superPAC, led by women, dedicated to mobilizing women voters in key swing states in support of Kamala Harris’ election,” according to their website.

“Our motto is: galvanized women save democracy. Because this is really all about freedom. Either you trust women to make their own decisions, or you don’t,” Setmayer said.

The 2024 election will be the first election since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

“Since Roe was overturned, the political landscape really has shifted,” Setmayer said, “it was a tectonic shift in politics for women. The stakes became incredibly high, literally, life or death, and it really transcends party lines.” The topic of abortion is on many ballots in different states in the 2024 election.

“We were inspired to start Seneca and felt that what we were doing could move voters, especially in the swing states, because we all know that that’s where this election is going to be decided,” Setmayer said.

Setmayer reflected on the increasing rate of infant deaths in states like Texas, where abortion bans came into existence after Roe v. Wade’s reversal.

“[Roe v. Wade has] forced women to have to pay attention to [abortion issues] in a way that I don’t think they ever did before, particularly for suburban Republican women,” Setmayer said.

The Seneca Project produces campaign ads and videos to target “moderate women in swing states.” Using digital targeting and Setmayer’s background as a political communicator, the Seneca Project attempts to draw people in and spark conversations about women’s rights.

Several videos produced by the Seneca project were shown during the talk, including a recently released campaign ad focused on recent remarks made by former president Trump regarding women.

Setmayer was a Republican for 27 years until Nov. 5, 2020 when she came to see the Republican party as “an existential threat to democracy.”

“So many people who were sanctimonious Republicans … acquiesced to Donald Trump when they thought that that was going to be politically expedient for them and look at the mess that we’re in, it was shocking to me,” Setmayer said.

Setmayer said she had “become a preeminent Never Trump Republican” and was in shock after he was elected. Now she declares herself an Independent, fighting for women’s rights.

“When people ask, was there anything positive that came out of the Trump administration? And I’m like, yes, people being shaken into getting involved, particularly the younger generation, which gives me hope,” Setmayer said, noting the increase in voter turnout for ages 18 to 29.

Parikshith Hebbar, freshman political science and legal studies major, attended the event saying, “I agree with [Setmayer], that prioritizing our democracy, securing it and protecting it comes first before anything else.”

“We want to provide students, faculty, staff and our community opportunities to hear how democracy works in all kinds of ways,” Kathy Roberts Forde, a journalism professor at UMass said.

Forde was the moderator at the discussion as well as a member of the organizing committee for the Democracy in Troubled Times series. The Series’ next event will be held Oct. 8.

“It is a time for choosing,” Setmayer said, “if we as a country, want to still have a free society … that we were founded on, and what our founding documents talk about, then we have to be involved and vote.”

Alexandra Hill can be reached at [email protected]