[upbeat music] Today, another in our series of conversations with our friends, part of the pipeline at Run for Something.
You all asked for more examples of leaders you can recruit, and endorse, and support, and fund, and hold their feet to the fire, who are working on the things you can touch and feel like climate and health and democracy.
So that's what these conversations are. Today I'm excited to introduce you to Sophia Gibb.
She is a public servant and elite athlete who [laughs] knows what it means to perform under pressure, which is what our elections are.
So she is the elections deputy for Chaffee County in Colorado, where she is responsible for running secure, accessible elections, backed by advanced national certifications in election administration.
Before that, Sophia led emergency preparedness efforts in public health, also obviously super timely, so resilience is quite literally part of her job description.
And of course, ah, outside government, Sophia is a two-time Paralympic medalist, multi-time world champion, and a former Team USA Paralympic captain who has advocated for equity on the global stage and on Capitol Hill.
So whether she is strengthening democracy by example or competing at quite literally the highest levels of sport, she brings discipline, leadership, and a deep, deep commitment and kindness, frankly, to community and to everything she does here.
Again, all of the guests in this series are sourced from the Run for Something pipeline in the graduating classes. These are truly our next generation of leaders, if we'll have them, if we'll keep it.
If these conversations inspire you, please do three things. One, find out what office you or some other amazing young person can run for at runforwhat.net.
You can find and support incredible candidates who are already out there who are endorsed by Run for Something or Emily's List or Planned Parenthood or Gifford and other incredible organizations at whatcanido.earth.
And of course, please share these conversations.
They are so cool, and someone who has Sophia's job is in every county, whether that's someone who's doing the job well and for the people as a representative of them, or someone who's not.
It is an office that needs to be filled and needs to be run well if this whole little experiment is going to continue. So please enjoy my conversation with Sophia Gibb. Sophia Gibb, welcome to the show.
Really excited to have you. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Not very often we have a Paralympic team captain, world champion, who also,
for some forsaken reason, has decided to run for, for public office to, to defend, you know, democracy. So thank you for all of it. I'm so excited to, to talk about your whole thing.
I wanna hear about all of your training, your transition over to running, which is cr- crazy, sure, why not, and running for public office, maybe even your husband, but first we gotta talk about Ody, 'cause that's all I...
That's actually the only thing I care about here. Tell me more about Ody. He's a six-year-old mutt. We DNA tested him, 'cause we have no children and he's our child.
[laughs] And he turned out to be a Great Pyrenees, Australian Cattle Dog, but he just looks kinda like a blat- black Lab, black mutt. Sure. We got him during COVID, and he's... Yeah, he's just our child.
Oh, that's the best, isn't it? By the way, better than children, to be very clear. [laughs] I mean, love my kids, however... Is he out running with you and things like that? He is my running partner, yes.
Oh, that's awesome. Well, I will just need four to five pictures of Ody later, if that's okay. I will in exchange send you pictures of Lucy, who sometimes runs with me.
Most of the time she just wants to be with her mom, which, as explained, is fair. Let's talk about this.
You were on air recently at the Olympics because you actually knew what it's like to be an athlete at these things and, and could walk the walk, un- unlike, you know, a lot of folks who, who don't understand what it's like to have that pressure and that training and, and things like that.
How did your whole Paralympic journey and all of your training and, and all that prepare you to say, "I'm now gonna stand up for democracy"? Looking back at my career,
you know, sports is still to this day a huge part in my life. Sports tau- taught me discipline and resilience and how to work hard and communicate with people, and to go for a goal.
And I know how to work under pressure pretty well, so I think it, it gave me those foundation blocks for this next chapter in my life. What are the practical responsibilities, I guess as advertised, and
as maybe you experienced them not as captain and then as captain of, of the Paralympic team? Yeah, I was the team captain in 2021 at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, and that was kind of a different...
I think not advertised and not known was the whole pandemic. Um- Yeah. Sure. You're welcome. Yeah.
There was a level of our responsibility as captains to hold the team accountable for keeping the 20-plus of us safe- Mm-hmm... in some capacity. I just remember some, at the end, some teammates just wanting to,
to break our rules and, you know, break the isolation that we had. Sure. And we couldn't do it, 'cause we still had teammates competing. Yeah. And that was pretty hard, 'cause I wanted to break it too, you know?
I was- Of course... done competing and- It's human... wanted to go see friends and that kinda stuff. But yeah, I think that was something I wasn't prepared for- I, I-... in that role...
man, I, I don't know how you would be. I don't know who would be. I mean, it's a...
The fact that you all were able to still go and, and compete during that time, tr- to travel and then go and compete during that time, it's one thing, you know, not to diminish them, but like, you know, the NBA going into their bubble down at Disney World and building a whole thing and all that.
Like, it's hard. You're away from your families for a long time. But you guys really traveled and, you know, were mixed in with so many other folks from around the world.
Yeah, and I remember part of that was, you know, we flew from the States to Tokyo, and
we all sat in this room in the airport in Tokyo, and we all got COVID tested, and the whole plane had to test negative, and if one person tested positive, the whole plane was going back to the States. Holy shit.
So, you know, we're sitting there for, like, three hours hoping... You know, it was out of our control. Little PTSD from that. I was gonna say, does that feel like six months ago or 100 years ago to you?
It depends on the day. Yeah. But it's, it's, like, one of those core memories that- Oh, yeah... I don't think I'll ever forget sitting there. Well, thank you for your leadership. That's, that's incredible.
W- watching any of it from afar was just like, I can't imagine the logistics required to try and pull this off so that folks like yourself who've been training for years can do the thing.
And I think part of it, too, was, you know, our families couldn't go, and so making it fun, and you know, you can't replace that- Yeah...
aspect of having your friends and family in the stands, but still celebrating your teammates completing something that, you know, is once in a lifetime. Sure.
I think they released a stat of, like,.002% make it to the games and medal.
And I remember, you know, when I won my bronze medal, I, I had to get drug tested, so, you know, by the time I got back to my dorms, it was midnight. Yeah. And my roommate was asleep.
My family back in the States was asleep- Sure... 'cause they stayed up all night to watch me, and I took a selfie in the elevator with a PB&J, and that was my dinner. Oh my God.
Like, the night I won a medal That's my dinner five nights a week. But, but that's it. Yeah. I was like, "Woo. Good. Nice job, Sophie." Yeah. "You did it." Oh my God. That's... Wow.
When did you really choose to say, "I'm gonna settle in this part of Colorado," and when did it stick out to you that most people have no idea what
public offices exist in their town or county or city, much less might be available to them, like what the qualifications might be required besides a bronze medal, much less, like, some of these more nuanced ones, like, you know, what you're working on?
Tell us a little bit about that. I lived at the Olympic Training Center- Mm-hmm... for about six years. Colorado Springs? And then in 2019... Yep. Yep. My partner, now husband, and I decided to move to Salida.
I wanted to have a change in training, and my partner then was retiring from pro- professional- Mm-hmm... cycling, so we moved to Salida, and I trained here for two years leading into the Tokyo 2021 Games.
Within that two years, I realized I was gonna retire after Tokyo. Mm. So I kinda just started putting my feelers out for jobs to make my transition from professional sports into reality- It's terrible [laughs]...
easiest, you know, the easiest way. And I actually got a job in public health- Oh, cool... first in local government, and I really enjoyed that. One of the nurses there, her wife was the clerk- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm...
or is the clerk, and they had the elections director position opening up, and I always kinda showed an interest in politics. I always loved watching CNN on election night- Mm-hmm...
and watching, you know, all the states- Mm-hmm... you know, turn in their election results. Mm-hmm.
And so I thought it'd be super fun, and moved over to the elections role in 2024, two weeks before the general election, so it was a nice swift kick. Mm-hmm. [laughs] I was gonna say. So my first- Great timing...
first two weeks in the job. Holy cow. Yeah. Oh my God. And then my clerk wants to retire, and I was kind of, you know, next in line, and she thought I would be good at the role, and here we are. Here we are.
What is it about local... Again, y- you know, we use the word politics, and, and it's, it, it's obviously and understandably got such negative connotations, but you know, you are, you are really,
like, this fundamental, again, if unrecognized piece of, like, the really vital machinery. Again, like [laughs] you said, two weeks before 2024. It's gonna get real here again in a few months.
There's a real difference between that being such a vital cog in literally how things are counted and making sure the rule's shared and broadcast and stuck with versus watching... What's that guy's name on CNN? Steve?
Watching Steve, you know, do, do the maps, and there's a thousand roles in between. What is it about this one?
I think especially in w- Chaffee County's con- k- kinda considered, like, a small, medium county for Colorado, and the clerk is a, a working role. Mm-hmm.
So she's not just sitting behind a desk and, you know, clicking her computer. She's, she's down there elbows deep- Yeah... processing ballots and taking care of democracy, and I...
That's really fun, and it's really an honor to have that responsibility for my county to h- make sure every citizen has their voices heard- Mm-hmm... in voting. Not everybody wants that responsibility.
It's a big one, for sure, and it's in the front page of the paper. It's front lines- Mm-hmm... in the news. David Becker's big into elections- Mm-hmm...
if you've ever listened to him, and he's given out the stats nationwide. It's, like, less than a percentage of non-citizens are even on voter rolls. Yeah. And it's by accident- Right... off of driver's licenses. Right.
You know? It's... They're not even trying to commit voter fraud. Right. Let's educate people a little bit. So what does the apparatus around a clerk look like, I guess, uh, personnel-wise and duties-wise in...
Again, it's July. In, in the months coming up to, to November, so who are you working with? What are their roles? How do they support you?
In Colorado, so the clerk and recorder oversees elections, motor vehicle, where you get your vehicle licensed and titled, and recording, so where public deeds, marriage licenses. Mm-hmm. She's the overseer of all that.
Right now we're wrapping up our primary election, which happened on June 30th, so we just actually completed our audit yesterday. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, where the secretary of state randomly selects...
We had 82 ballots. So they give us all the numbers, and we have a bipartisan team that comes in, and we pick all those ballots out of all the boxes and re-put them in- Mm-hmm...
and they have to, they have to equal what was scanned on election night, and we had a 0% discrepancy, so everything was correct.
So just wrapping that up right now, and kinda just getting ready for the general, you know, reordering, making sure, at this stage, just making sure we have all the supplies we need- Mm...
um, reaching out to judges to see if they're available, kinda the before the storm. [laughs] Getting prepared.
And I'm, again, I'm in Virginia, where we have, like, a, a election every six weeks it feels like at this point, and somehow still all in off years. None of it makes any sense. How much does the
relative chaos of the past few elections help you go, "Okay, this is what we need to really have straight and have ready to go," like you said, making sure judges are available and things like that for, for November?
I think it changes every year, or every election at least. You know, we learn something new every time. You know, I think we're getting ready for a lot of observers and watchers- Mm...
this election, making sure our supervisor judges are very educated on what they can and can't do as watchers- Mm-hmm... and that they feel safe- Mm...
and they know how to use their panic buttons if they need it, and what can't nearing is, you know, that they can't do it within 100 feet of a vote center. Really working on our education and communication with that.
Local politics, always feels like I'm describing, like, you know, like, the, the, the Batman underworld or something, but, like, a- as you've gotten into this, are there groups, maybe statewide Colorado groups that, that focus on election information, voting information, get out the vote stuff, infrastructure you can rely on in any way, even if informally, to make sure not just your office is ready to do this, but the voting population is itself is ready to engage and prepare with everything you've put together?
Yeah, I think the state and just nationwide, there's been a huge get out the vote, and I think people are,
after the past couple nationwide federal elections, are really following and trying to stay educated, and- Mm-hmm... making sure their voices are heard.
Yeah, we rely on a little bit of that, and then our clerk is really open for people that may have questions to come and tour, you know, our processing room- Mm... and see, you know, it's, it's really nice.
She has signs that, you know, you can sit in the room and watch the life cycle of the ballot, of, you know, how it gets to- I might have to come visit. That sounds amazing. Yeah, from your hands to- Yeah...
the 25-month storage, essentially. That's amazing. That's very exciting to me. A friend of mine published a book a few years ago, and he's such a nerd, and I appreciate so much. I'll send you the link to it.
He decided he wanted to watch the entire book production process start to finish, so of course he made, like, a six-part podcast literally about just, like, his book being made, like, from the paper being pulped and all this stuff, and I was like, "I'm in.
I'm fu- [laughs] I'm in. The whole thing sounds amazing." How is Colorado as far as feeling prepared for the months to come?
You know, everybody, the, the whole, like, the biggest election of our lives thing gets really old and really redundant if it's every time. At the same time, there's a little truth to it every time.
But how do you feel supported by the state? Colorado's kinda like the golden standard for elections, and then all of the clerks have the Colorado Clerk Association, so there's, there's just a ton of support.
I know Colorado's a state that leads election purity, you know, accuracy, the whole shebang, so- Mm-hmm... really lucky to be able to work in Colorado in this field.
Again, as far as, like, educating people, like, w- whether you're gonna run for something or not, understanding, like, what roles are available and what they aren't and what they do, but also, you know, we're really interested in what is, like, really transferable from
municipality to municipality, even within the same state? Like, are there best practices?
Are there ways to campaign or to, to, to run this office that you feel are effective in, in some of these bigger counties, like a Colorado Springs, like a Boulder?
I think within the cl- clerks association for Colorado, it's really cool 'cause it's like, you know, going back to my sports background. You know, it's like they're all, all on the same team. Mm-hmm. You know, they...
I know all 64 of them have a group text message. You know, and they're, they're working through things together. Yeah.
You know, whatever may be coming down the pike, they're, they're communicating with each other and they're working it through, 'cause at the end of the day, we're just trying to run, you know, the election.
Yeah, and I imagine it's really one of those not unlike a team captain i- and not even the middle of a pandemic, right? The, the first
th- third or whatever of a, of a pande- pandemic in a country on the other side of the world, like, there's not a lot of people outside that group chat that know what you're going through, what you're dealing with.
You know, Colorado had Tina Peters that was just released from prison, so, you know, that's kinda played another element into one of the loud voices in the background. What does a measurably...
You, you just, you know, you recounted your, your, pfft, pfft, quite literally recounted your primary. You d- but you also just recounted it to us as being successful. Everything measured up.
You know, you had the bipartisan teams come in. You feel good about that. Now you're able to prep with a fresh mind for the general. What does a measurably positive, successful outcome look like?
Again, like you said, let's say by end of November, early December. You know, Chaffee County's small, considerably, but just people believing that, you know, the clerks are running fair and free elections- Mm-hmm...
and that, you know, their, their vote is heard. Yeah. You know? Yeah. At the end of the day. How do you get that feedback from people?
I think when people come and become an election judge or come and, you know, tour our ballot processing, a lot of people are pretty educated, and they just know Colorado- Mm-hmm... you know, everything we do. Mm-hmm.
Like, we have a pre-audit before we even start.... processing stuff. Right So, and people are pretty educated on that. But just for some of those people in the back that are pretty loud, we're not doing anything-
Yeah... nefarious. We're just following the law. Har- hard to hide with, hard to hide, but at the same time, that is an even bigger test, right? There's no, like,
m- margin or, like, percentage of error that everyone goes, like, "Well, it's a m- half a percent." Obviously, we're arguing over things that don't exist half the time.
But what does a county with, again, measurably very little to hide, and running a tight ship, where you can watch the ballot's life cycle, what do you feel like you all can teach some of these bigger counties that are under a different kind of pressure in running a more complex system?
You know, we- we're just on such a smaller scale that we can, like, bring it ballot to ballot. Mm-hmm. You know, it's a little bit more of a manageable plate, I guess we could call it- Mm-hmm...
for someone who's trying to watch. Yeah. 'Cause I know I look at Denver County, and I'm like, oh my God, they're- they're processing- Yeah... the amount of ballots we, in a day, that we process- Yeah...
in our whole election. [laughs] Mm-hmm. You know? And that's mind-boggling. So for us as a smaller county, it's- it's just a little bit more comprehensible, I think, per se.
What are the biggest obstacles you are facing in your campaign, in your governance going forward?
Like, what are you looking forward to, going, "That's something I'm gonna have to, not deal with necessarily, but really try to work on"? I'm running unopposed.
I'm not doing the elec- I'm not really helping with the election this year since I'm on the ballot. We decided to, as an office- How civilized of you. That seems insane today. [laughs] Yeah.
I don't even have access to the ballot processing room. So if I need to get down there for whatever reason, I have a chaperone. [laughs] That's amazing. Yeah.
So I think just, you know, that message in itself that, you know, we're- we're really respectful of- [laughs]... of it. At what point after the election are you allowed to do your job? Because you're right, it is...
You, [laughs] you are, y- you're- you are running for something that is so intimately tied into the thing itself.
Once the election is done, so after the canvas in November, I would assume the clerk will give me access back. And it's just, this is a, a funky year since I'm on the ballot. Mm-hmm. We decided to- Mm-hmm.
But it's a great litmus test, right? If counties like yours aren't saying, "Look, we don't have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, much less millions, that, that might swing this or that.
But we're gonna play by the rules very clearly, because clearly, that is the right, [laughs] the right thing to do.
Like, you should not, you should not be intimately involved with the process this time," should be a standard. Like, that's meaningful.
Again, you said you're running unopposed, but you really do care about this position and your county and Colorado and elections and politics and stuff.
How do you balance the, the stress and pressures of that in, in your current job?
How much are you able to take care of yourself, do, like you said, your, your running and Ody time and your partner time and things like that? I think I'm still trying to figure out the balance, honestly.
When I'm stressed, I exercise. Mm-hmm. Like, my brains out. And I'll be honest, I'm exercising my brains out, like, the past couple weeks. [laughs] Mm-hmm.
But it helps me, you know, like, mentally, I- I can kinda just zone out and put some miles in my shoes with the dog and- Yeah... and clear my head a little bit. How long did it take after, maybe not at all,
did it take after your professional career to discover what a vital sort of piece of
mental infrastructure that running is, or swimming or whatever combination it is, before you're like, "Oh, I actually need this thing that I've been doing as, you know, a career"?
I still swim twice a week with the masters team, which is really, which is really nice. I always feel really, like, 8:00 rolls around, and I feel like I could accomplish anything. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm.
Feel pretty grounded. I think when I retired from professional sports, I, it took me a bit to, like, I poured myself into, to work and reality.
And then I found the balance, and now it's a little out of whack of just the high pressure, high stress happening right now in my life. It'll stay with me forever. Oh, wait, I have a more important question.
Can Ody come to the office? Ody's not an office dog. [laughs] So two different questions. Yeah, Ody- Can, can other dogs come to the office? Probably. Can Ody? Hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
I think I would get some... People would not be thrilled with- [laughs]... Ody being at the office, and Ody would not be thrilled at being at the office, so.
Probably bark at every single person that walked by my office, so. Oh my God. You're just... It's not an emergency, Ody. Like, it, not everything has to be an emergency. Yeah, I'm very aware of what that means.
I've had enough, like, doodle combinations over the past 15 years who are just constantly on high alert, and you're like, "It's just wind. It's just wind." Amazing.
Who else is running for local or state office that you really feel like can be a contributor to this democracy project of yours? Every clerk in Colorado is up for election. So- Oh, okay...
and then the secretary of state's up this year. That's on the ballot as well in Colorado, and that's kind of who, as clerks, we report to. Mm-hmm. I appreciate your
attention and devotion to the, to the nitty-gritty of not just does a person feel heard, but am I abiding by the process before I'm even part of it, and how can that be an example for everything else? Thank you.
Yeah, absolutely. How does your partner feel about being married to a politician? I think it depends on the day. [laughs]He does not enjoy watching CNN as much as I do. Uh-huh.
I was in Italy doing, working with NBC covering the Paralympic Games. Mm-hmm. While I was away was when the caucus was, and I- Mm-hmm...
got my nomination through the caucus, and he nominated me, so he was my nomination, so. Look at that. That's so special. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing, and then he's like, "I'm out."
[laughs] Since it, since I'm not running a huge campaign, and it's our first one, he's my campaign manager, and so it's definitely a family affair.
He definitely likes me to leave it at the, at the front door when I come home [laughs] for sure. I get it. I get it. Set boundaries. My wife and I have definitely struggled with that on and off over the years.
It's, it's hard in today's age, right? To, to whatever the... [sighs] If it involves any sort of electronic device in any way, it's, it's, it's very difficult to do that.
But we have found there's times you're like, w- we, you gotta do what you gotta do, and there's times where it's like, "No, let's have a little church and state." Like, it c- it can go a long way, right?
I don't wanna say, like, the election can wait until tomorrow, but sometimes it's okay. Just the number of people who are like, "No, I see the news. I understand what's important," or, "I see these actions.
Like, I, I'm doing a bunch of them." They're like, "But I really struggle to..." And this is, like, our readers and listeners. They're like, "I struggle to see and find
people f- fighting for the thing that I can vote for, that I can, that are working on the issues that I can personally touch and see and, and feel," and that's really local and state. And so that's
why I love these conversations so much, 'cause I, I hope someone can, even if it's not in your county or even in Colorado, they can go like, "Oh, shit, I bet I have a clerk. Like, why are they doing that job?
Who's doing the... What kind of person does that job? Should I do that job?" And if we can accomplish that, then I feel like we've done our job here, so. [hands thudding] Yeah. Thank you for standing up and doing it.
I appreciate it. Thank you. No, absolutely. All right. What's your website? Spell it out for the people 'cause I will mess it up. It's S-O-P-H-I-A F-O-R-C-H-A-F-F-E. It's F for G. Perfect. Awesome.
We will put that in the show notes and all the places. That's it. You can check us out at our new site and new URL at the most important question.show. That's the most important question.show.
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