May Boeve talks with Tomás Garduño, organizer, strategist, and author of The Fundamentals of Electoral Organizing, about what it takes to build real working-class political power. Tomás traces his path from the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle to leading electoral work with groups like Southwest Organizing Project and, now, with Many Hands, an incubated project of Addition focused on organizing in under-resourced, often-red congressional districts.

Together, they unpack a core tension in movement life: why so many organizers are skeptical of electoral politics. Their conversation explores how mass mobilization, canvassing, city council fights, and elections all fit together, not as competing strategies, but as different tools in the same toolbox.

Plus: a surprisingly useful hot tip on mold remediation! 

How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve

Producer: Phil Surkis

Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.

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can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod. 

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