“It is time for the Democratic Party to recognize half of our delegation, at least, should be women,” said former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. | Cliff Owen/AP Photo Women Rule Podcast Former Planned Parenthood head leaves door open to elected office Cecile Richards has ‘thought about’ running, saying, ‘We’ll see what’s next.’

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Cecile Richards is keeping the door open to a bid for public office.


When asked whether she’s ever thought about running, the former Planned Parenthood president told POLITICO’s Anna Palmer that she has “thought about it.”

“I’ve been an organizer and an agitator, and that’s always been kind of my place,” Richards said in the most recent Women Rule podcast episode, recorded live at the Texas Tribune Festival. “That’s what I’m doing now. … I’m helping every single woman in this country I can get elected in November, because I think it’s going to change our democracy, and I have enormous respect for the women who are in office.”

And then she added this teaser about her own political prospects: “So we’ll see. We’ll see what’s next.”

In the interview, Richards — who left Planned Parenthood in May after 12 years as its chief executive — also urged Democrats to put more women on the ballot.

“It is time for the Democratic Party to recognize half of our delegation, at least, should be women,” she said. “Because it makes a difference.”

Once House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Richards offered this advice to party officials when it comes to recruiting and retaining female staffers and candidates: “Promote them, and ask them to run for office, and don’t wait until they insist on running themselves.”

Richards, who steered the women’s health organization through aggressive Republican efforts to defund its operations, also discussed how Planned Parenthood first dealt with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Recounting one “bizarre” meeting she had with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, she described how she turned down an offer for more federal money to Planned Parenthood, if the group “quit providing abortion services.”

“It was all so deeply personal,” Richards said. “Ivanka said to me, she said, ‘Well, I’m very — I’m still hurt because my dad said nice things about Planned Parenthood in the election, and you never acknowledged that.’”

Richards’ reply: “I said, ‘Well, he did say that Planned Parenthood — he knew a lot of women who’d been helped by Planned Parenthood, and he was going to defund us.’ And so, I said, ‘I’m not sure what the part I was supposed to thank him for.’”

To hear more about Richards’ childhood steeped in politics, her time leading Planned Parenthood through GOP defunding attempts, and what she took away from the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, listen to the full podcast here. Women Rule takes listeners backstage with female bosses for real talk on how they made it and what advice they have for women looking to lead.