With a bit over a year and a half left before Election Day in 2020, we are already seeing announcements of presidential bids. Most surprising about these bids is how many women have decided to run for president. According to CNBC, this is “a record number of female candidates running for president.” The women that have launched their campaigns are Elizabeth Warren, Senator of Massachusetts; Amy Klobuchar, Senator of Minnesota; Kamala Harris, Senator of California; Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator of New York; Tulsi Gabbard, Congresswoman from Hawaii; and author Marianne Williamson. Since there are several women, and candidates in general, running for president, it will take a large appeal to voters to make them stand out. Their standpoints on policy will be important to attract voters who are looking for a change from the current administration. Those candidates that prioritize the needs and
Most of these women have past experience on Capitol Hill which will work in their favor and boost their credibility. But since most of them have similar backgrounds, they will need to find other ways to make their campaigns unique, especially since they have popular competitors such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders is a fan favorite after he was able to raise $5.9 million online in the first 24 hours after announcing his campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal. With this strong competition, will the women be able to come out on top four years after Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s loss? The candidates will have to take the past as precedent in order for their campaigns to be successful. Warren, for example, has expressed her thoughts on income inequality and protecting the middle class —a demographic that largely voted for Trump in 2016— from large corporations, according to the New York Times. And finally will so many candidates running under the same broad ideological umbrella dilute the Democratic vote? Will it saturate the race and prevent Democratic voters from uniting under one candidate, or if there will be no issue in joining together behind one final Democratic nominee? For now, there is no real answer to this. Only time will tell who will continue in the race and who will have to drop out.
Regina Rivera
