2020 Presidential Politics Roundup
Few women have run for the office of President of the United States, with Hillary Clinton becoming the closest to being the first to hold that title. In a contentious, hotly contested 2016 election, Clinton narrowly lost to Donald Trump, besting him in the popular vote by a 2,858,686 vote margin. Trump ultimately won via the Electoral College.
But the first woman to run for president was Victoria Woodhull in 1872, with Frederick Douglass as her running mate. In 1964, Margaret Chase Smith announced her candidacy for the Republican Party nomination, becoming the first woman to be nominated for the presidency at a major political party’s convention. Charlene Mitchell was the first black woman to run for president in 1964, and the first to get votes in a general election. In 2008, Clinton became the first woman to win a presidential primary and the first to be listed as a presidential candidate in every primary and caucus nationwide.
In 2020 in a crowded field of Democratic nominees, five women hope to be the one who will finally break through the gender barrier and become President of the United States.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii)
There have been questions raised about work she did in the early 2000s for anti-gay organization The Alliance for Traditional Marriage run by her father, Mike Gabbard. The organization fought against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and supported conversion therapy. In a statement to CNN earlier this year, Gabbard said: “First, let me say I regret the positions I took in the past, and the things I said. I’m grateful for those in the LGBTQ+ community who have shared their aloha with me throughout my personal journey. Over the past six years in Congress, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to help work toward passing legislation that ensures equal rights and protections on LGBTQ+ issues, such as the Equality Act, the repeal of DOMA, Restore Honor to Service Members Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Safe Schools Improvement Act, and the Equality for All Resolution. Much work remains to ensure equality and civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and if elected President, I will continue to fight for equal rights for all.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (New York)
However, previous supports of gun control that earned her an ‘A’ rating from the NRA could prove to be problematic, especially with the horrific spike in mass shootings over the past five years. Gillibrand had introduced a broad LGBT rights agenda at the beginning of June, Pride month, which would include codifying marriage equality, banning conversion therapy, rescinding Trump’s ban on transgender members of the military as well as signing the Equality Act to prevent LGBT discrimination. It would also direct the Department of Justice to consider sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes.
Senator Kamala Harris (California)
However, in 2015, she argued on behalf of the state of California to withhold gender reassignment surgery from two transgender inmates who had been prescribed the procedure while serving their sentences. Both cases resulted in settlements. Another sticking point with the LGBT community and sex workers is Harris’s stance that she supports the decriminalization of sex work. However, her staunch support of SESTA/FOSTA—a package of laws that aimed to shut down sex trafficking by shutting off sites like Backpage—says otherwise.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
If she wins the presidency, Klobuchar has said that she would have the United States re-join the Paris Agreements, which aims to decrease greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030. In 2016, she sponsored or co-sponsored 27 bills that were signed into law, more than any other senator that year. She also introduced two bipartisan bills to combat the opioid crisis in 2018 that were passed and signed into law. However, there have been allegations of cruelty and abuse by Klobuchar from former staff.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts)
Warren has been highly critical of the current administration, becoming a frequent target of Trump’s social media tirades. In April, after reading the Mueller Report, she called on the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump. The Senator achieved a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard for her first term. In January, Warren gave her first post-presidential candidacy announcement interview to out MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow.