Sen. Warren, Sen. Kamala Harris, Representative Tulsi Gabbard are the first Democratic woman candidates running for president.
Here is my wish for the Democratic primary:
My wish is for a robust primary, full of substantive debate, but most importantly for it to be a whole new kind of competition.
I want to see a Democratic primary in which each of the women running are not only challenging each other, but supporting each other. I want to see the narrative of ambitious women as cut-throat and catty burned to the ground. I want to see Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris and maybe Tammy Duckworth and Kate Brown, and fuck it, why not Stacey Abrams or Cecile Richards, argue policy. ACTUAL POLICY. I want to see their collective Insta-stories where they’re going out for pre-debate mani-pedis together. I want screen grabs of the group chat where they mock the way Fox News fabricates drama between them.
I want to see immensely powerful women embody the principle that a rising tide raises all boats, I want them to publicly declare how much they want each other succeed, that success for any of them is in some way success for all of them but that they are not the same and they are not interchangeable.
I want to see women from the full spectrum of the left united against the misogyny in the White House and in the GOP at large, but ready to call it out in their own party. I want to hear Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris argue in depth, not with each other, but in debate, what steps our nation should take to combat income inequality and institutional racism, and to protect civil rights and the environment.
I want to see the men of the Democratic Party making space, at long last, for women to not only have a place on the stage but to HAVE THE STAGE. I want to see allies like Joe Biden say that to empower women you have to EMPOWER WOMEN. I want to see Hillary Clinton cheerleading, putting her don’t-give-a-fuck shades back on and campaigning for those women. I want the same from Bernie.
I’ve been hearing chatter for months that there are no clear contenders on the left, that America isn’t “ready” for a woman president, OR another president of color. I’ve been hearing for months that the Democrats will elect Joe Biden because he appeals to the middle, maybe with Romney as his running mate.
Fuck that.
The fact is the left, all across its spectrum, is FILLED with qualified, brilliant, driven, dedicated women who would make excellent presidents. The fact is that their names aren’t “household names” because women doing work is so often overlooked, even in the greatest halls of power. Do you remember when the Senate contained twenty women for the first time, and a blizzard hit Washington, and the ONLY PEOPLE WHO SHOWED UP FOR WORK WERE THE WOMEN? Those women. Fucking all of them should be household names. The only reason they’re not is we collectively agreed they were, “The women,” lumped them together, and then brushed them off.
Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard are coming for the 2020 nomination, and I hope they aren’t alone. And I hope the story of the 2020 primaries is that a grown ass woman who knows her damn job and knows she doesn’t have to pretend there’s only room for one woman at the table (or on the ticket) hands the GOP their asses on election day.
Go kick ass, women.
Go kick ass for all of us.