Overcoming the viability of women candidates

By Martha Selph

One of the most discussed moments at the Democratic Debate on Tuesday at Drake University was not the incredibly well thought out answers by the people on stage or the witty banter between the candidates, particularly Senator Elizabeth Warren’s comment about how collectively, the men on stage have lost ten elections. Although Warren’s snappy comeback was my favorite moment of the debate, it was overlooked by something that happened after the debate came to an end. Senator Warren and Sanders met for a post-debate discussion, and when Sanders extended his hand for a handshake, it was refused. This interaction has been heavily scrutinized by news outlets and viewers on social media for the past three days and has led to the Twitter hashtag movement, #NeverWarren. Perhaps this reaction to Warren’s ‘snub’ of Bernie is unsurprising after tensions have been on the rise between the two progressive candidates lately, ever since the Sanders campaign began giving their volunteers a script that attacked Warren by name. In response, it was leaked that Sanders told Warren during a private meeting years ago that a woman could not beat Trump in 2020. While Sanders denied this happened, Warren and her campaign continued to say that he did. When asked about this in the debate, the issue appeared to be settled until the handshake incident. 

The backlash towards Warren I have seen from Bernie supporters and others on social media has really bothered me for a multitude of reasons. To begin with, this all seems rather unimportant when impeachment is going on in D.C., and it is more vital than ever for the Democratic party to be united. At the end of the day, there will be one Democratic nominee to run against Trump, and I hope that something as small as a handshake does not prevent voters from supporting whoever the nominee may be. I believe this also brings up an important issue about gender, sexism, and the viability of a woman candidate in the 2020 election. Polls have shown that a majority of voters would be comfortable with a woman, and when looking back at history, we see that people never thought a Catholic or an African American could become President, but then did. However, I am hesitant to believe that the country would really rally behind a woman candidate, particularly Elizabeth Warren. Biden continues to be seen as the candidate who is seen as the Democrat’s best chance to beat Trump, despite having a poor track record of winning in Republican areas and has lost many more elections than Warren or Klobuchur. People see Biden as a more electable candidate, and perhaps that has to do with his gender and race. People are comfortable with him and are familiar with white men in the Oval Office.  

When I hear people say, “I’d vote for a woman, just not Warren,” or in 2016, when people said this about Hillary Clinton, I think, if not now, then when? I believe we hold our female candidates to a higher standard than we do the male candidates and are more inclined to criticize them and vilify them for things that we never would of a man. As we approach the Iowa Caucuses and the primaries across the Nation, it is more important than ever to recognize our biases as voters and to step into the voting booth with an open mind. I don’t think we need to be concerned with whether or not a woman like Warren is electable, but rather who is best suited to be the President of the United States. It will be interesting to see how the ‘beef’ between Warren and Sanders and the topic of a female in the Oval Office will play out in the upcoming months. My hope is that both campaigns turn a corner and stop attacking one another and turn their efforts to the real enemy: Donald Trump.