Team, we have a problem. Women can and have won elections- and can strengthen a presidential ticket- but the biggest barrier standing in their way is a tried-n-true playbook that has effectively kept us out of positions of power- that even we "progressives" can fall victim to.
We know from research + history that the most effective ways to take down a woman candidate are to make her appear unqualified, untrustworthy and/or unlikeable. We know there's a double standard + we know that standard is significantly worsened if you're a woman of color
Trump, the GOP + their right-wing media are all foaming at the mouth ready to use our badass woman VP (whoever she may be) to divide us + weaken our chances of beating their asses up and down the ballot. And we cannot let them get away with it again. So we have some work to do.
As triggering, painful + rage-inducing as it will be, we need to keep reminding ourselves, our friends, our families + everyone we share this big beautiful tent with that we respect ambitious women, we are them, we marry them, we we raise them + you better believe we elect them.
We need to reinforce publicly + privately that every effort to discredit our *guaranteed* over-qualified VP nominee are pathetic signals of weakness, fear, misogyny - and if she's a woman of color, racism. Because they will be. And we're not taking the bait, nor should the media.
Women make up 50.8% of our population, 53% of our voting electorate + we have more women in positions of power in the U.S. today than ever before in our history - yet make up just 24% of Congress, 18% of governors, 28% of state leg seats + we all know we've never held the top job
As @jmpalmieri recently said, "women make the world run but we don't yet run the world" and I'd say the majority of men who do have done a shit-poor job at it. We need a woman in the White House to pull this country together + while I wish it was as POTUS, VP will have to do.
I'm not suggesting our VP will be perfect. I'm suggesting she will be, at worse, as imperfect as the most powerful men in our country, and if she's on the short list for VP, we can't even understand the shit she has been through to get there + the strength it has raised in her🧨
So every single time someone says they think she's too "opportunistic" or they just can't put their finger on what it is they "just don't like about her" or that she's "not progressive enough," "not black enough," "not qualified enough," ask them who is + if they're on the ballot
This election matters too much. Our country needs us too much, we have worked too hard + millions have suffered too much already to let systemic misogyny or racism play ANY role in preventing us from saving what's left of our democracy, and from building something better from it.
So whoever she is, let's make a commitment right now to make our Vice Presidential nominee the most respected, enthusiastically supported, celebrated + history-making woman we've ever had on any ballot - because I have no question she is going to have our back when we win ✊🏼🇺🇸
