Pantsuit Politics

Pantsuit Politics is an American political podcast hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland, a liberal, and Beth Silvers, a conservative which started in November 2015. The goal of the podcast is to guide listeners in navigating difficult political conversations with "grace and respect." Episodes are released twice weekly.
Background.
Both Holland and Silvers attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where they met in 1999 as members of the Phi Mu sorority and became friends. Holland majored in political science and Silvers majored in business, with both women graduating in 2003. Holland received her juris doctor from American University Washington College of Law, and later began her career as a congressional staffer, campaign aide, and social media consultant. Holland also worked for the Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential campaign. Holland is an eighth-generation Kentuckian and lives in Paducah, Kentucky, where she served as City Commissioner. Silvers received a juris doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law. Prior to "Pantsuit Politics", Silvers practiced law and worked as a human resources executive. Silvers now works as a business consultant in addition to her work with "Pantsuit Politics". Silvers lives in Union, Kentucky. Both Silvers and Holland are Christians.
Holland's husband, Nicholas, wanted her to start a podcast, and Holland had the initial idea for a podcast called "Pantsuit Politics". She wanted to create a podcast which highlighted women working in politics. Holland and Silvers began discussing political issues on Holland's blog, and after realizing that they had differing opinions but had the same values they decided to create the podcast together to highlight their differing perspectives and to bring more female voices into politics. At the time, Holland was a Democrat and Silvers was a Republican. In November 2015, they released their first episode. They opened the podcast by describing themselves as "Sarah from the Left" and "Beth from the right." Silvers did not support Donald Trump, and in 2019 changed her voter registration due to the "Republican Party’s embrace of Trumpism" and the party's abandonment of what Silvers considered to be Republican values. After Silvers left the Republican Party, the Holland and Silvers' political views grew closer, and they changed their opening line to "the home of grace-filled political conversations." They also host a second podcast, "The Nuanced Life".
In 2019, Holland and Silvers were the keynote speakers at the Nebraska Women's Leadership Network Conference. They also appeared on an April 2019 episode of "Morning Joe".
Reception.
In the first four years of the podcast, "Pantsuit Politics" received more than four million downloads. In February 2021, the podcast was featured on Apple Podcasts Spotlight as the second-ever featured podcast.
Books.
In 2019, Holland and Silvers released a book, "I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversation", which was published by Thomas Nelson. The book is designed to provide readers with a framework for navigating political conversations with people who do not share the same political views. In creating the book, Silvers and Holland tried to transfer their style of discussion on their podcast into a methodology.
Holland and Silvers plan to release a second book in the summer of 2022 which will be published by Revell Publishing. The book will aim to inform readers about how communities can work together to create a better world.