Let me say this loudly for the people at the back: the Democratic base is women and POC. Half of those people are under 40. A one-term elderly white male candidate with no policy is not what is needed for a change election. Younger women and voters of color are not with Biden.
Both Harris and Castro have suspended their campaigns. They could come back.They are still on the ballots. But if Democrats and the left are not committed to women and POC candidates we cannot have the representation we deserve: representation that looks like and sounds like us.
The most votes in US history were won by a black man and a white woman. Stop saying we have to look to a broken past instead of a visionary future to win the White House. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP AND VOTE. Hillary lost by 77k votes in 3 states where 800k voted 3rd party.
In January 2017 I wrote that if Hillary didn't run again, Kamala Harris & Kirsten Gillibrand were the best Democratic ticket for 2020. I thought Harris was the star for this election cycle. But voters have to raise money, not just tweet. They have to get out there and fundraise.
Women & POC candidates need extra help from supporters: house parties, silent auctions and anything that is within FEC purview that will get money and ad time into candidates' pockets. Harris and Castro had no money. Without cash, you can't promote yourself. It's a vicious cycle.
The DNC is failing its constituency. It has to make the space for women and POC to rise. It has to make voter suppression issues a priority. The DNC has to make DNC chair a full time paid position. These are imperatives.
So I am just mad now. I have made no pretense about the fact that I believe America needs a woman president.. We need a course correction. We need to move forward, not backward. The GOP ran a racist and misogynist campaign in 2018 to try and tie every Democrat to Pelosi.
They failed. They showed Pelosi with MS-13 gang members photoshopped into the background. They pushed the manufacturer crisis at the border. Trump campaigned in swing districts. Democrats won in a landslide. Women unseated white male incumbents. History was made.
We can do this again. But there has to be the will. We can't afford a nominee who thinks the GOP is going to play nice or fair. We need vision. Australia is on fire. We are next. We need a radical course correction, not incrementalism. Castro, Harris & Gillibrand had bold vision.
We still have visionaries in this race. But we have to think past 2020 and we have to think of the crises that face the planet and the country. February 3 the first vote is cast. Where do we want to be in January 2021? How we vote will answer that question.
