Janine Turner, Cathy Gillespie, and Constituting America’s Student Ambassadors, Tova Love Kaplan and Dakare Chatman, chat with Constitutional experts on hot-topic issues via Zoom!
This Week’s Hot Topic: Electoral College & How Electors are Chosen
This Weeks Special Guests: 2016 Electors – Martha Jenkins (NC) and Christine Pelosi (CA)
Thank You To This Week’s Sponsors: Sharla & Tripp Davenport
Christine Pelosi is an attorney, author and advocate serving as counsel for We Said Enough and founder of IMPACT. She has worked as a Deputy City Attorney and Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, special counsel to HUD in the Clinton-Gore administration, and chief of staff on Capitol Hill. Elected as California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus Chair and Democratic National Committee Executive Committeewoman, Pelosi is the author of Campaign Boot Camp, Campaign Boot Camp 2.0, and Amazon bestseller The Nancy Pelosi Way. She has traveled to 41 states and 4 foreign countries conducting “call to service” trainings to thousands of leaders. A member of the San Francisco Giants Community Fund Board and proud public school mom, Christine resides in San Francisco, California with her husband, Emmy nominated filmmaker Peter Kaufman, and their daughter Isabella.
Martha Jenkins was elected 4th vice president of the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) at the 40th Biennial Convention in Indianapolis and took office in January 2020. She is director of NFRW Region 7, which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. She also is the advisor to the NFRW Legislation and Research, Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Resolutions committees.
One fall day in 1994, Martha’s husband Ed saw an ad in the local newspaper for the Republican Women’s Club of Chapel Hill. “You should call this number and get involved with this group, so you will have someone here that you have something in common with since all our neighbors are liberals,” he said. The rest is history.
Since then, Martha has served in many roles in the Republican Party and the Federation. After serving as the President of her club, and NCFRW vice president for two terms, Martha became the President of the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women in 2003, serving five years in that post. In 2007, she won the prestigious Ronald Reagan Award for being the Outstanding State President. She has also been a County Chairman, a District Chairman, and the Secretary of the North Carolina Republican Party. She has served on many NCGOP Convention committees and chaired the Resolutions Committee many times. She has been a Presidential Elector twice, in 2004 and in 2016, and delegate or alternate to three RNC Conventions. Martha is a member of the NCGOP Hall of Fame.
Jenkins served on the NFRW Executive Committee for four years, from 2010-2013. She was the legislative liaison for the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources from 2013-2017. Since then she has been a legislative assistant in the North Carolina General Assembly. She also has been the chief electoral judge in her precinct on Election Day for 8 years.
During the Almond administration, Martha aptly served as the Chairman of the NFRW Legislative and Research Committee. During her chairmanship, she and the committee worked on the issues of human trafficking, voter ID and mental health. With the help of Congressman (now Senator) Marsha Blackburn, major legislation was signed to further these goals. Under her leadership the committee also totally revised the NFRW Legislative Manual.
Martha is originally from Virginia and majored in history at the College of William and Mary. She and her husband Ed live in Chapel Hill, NC. They have two daughters, Kimberly (26) and Mary (21).
‘Constitutional Chats’ Hosts
Janine Turner
Actress Janine Turner is famous for her role as Maggie O’Connell in televisions’ Northern Exposure. She is the Founder and Co-President of Constituting America which launched in 2010. She is still acting but she is also actively teaching kids about the U.S. Constitution given over 540 speeches to classrooms across the country.
Cathy Gillespie
Cathy Gillespie is the co-president of Constituting America and one of 16 private citizens serving on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, helping organize the celebration of our country’s 250th birthday in 2026! She is a former Congressional Chief of Staff and former Commissioner of the White House Fellows Commission.
Tova Love Kaplan
Tova Love Kaplan is sixteen years old and lives in Chicago, Illinois. She currently serves as the National Youth Director for Constituting America, and runs the National Youth Advisory Council. She is a three-time winner of the “We the Future” contest in the Entrepreneurial (where she created a marketing plan), PSA (entitled “Know Your Rights. Read The Constitution”) and STEM (where she created an app). She is passionate about educating and empowering young people to use their constitutional rights!
Dakare Chatman
Constituting America Student Ambassador Dakare Chatman is 18 years old, and is currently a junior, full-time college student in South Carolina. He has won Constituting America’s We The Future Contest twice, once for best PSA where he reminded viewers the Constitution is “An American Thing, So Know It” and twice for his short film “Man On The Street.” He is also actively involved in our National Youth Advisory Board. He’s a working actor seen most recently in HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones and on April 15 in Netflix’s: Outer Banks. Dakare wishes to be an actor, but also a politician. But says you must be an actor to be a politician.