This presidential election cycle has a record number of women running for commander-in-chief. Still, these female candidates must navigate the question of "electability," a double-standard ー one former Hillary Clinton staffer says ー that they will have to beat back throughout the campaign.
"The ultimate answer is that to be electable, you have to win," said Amanda Litman, the executive director of Run for Something, a political action committee that aims to elect young Democrats. Litman previously served as the email director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
"It's important to step back and realize what we're talking about when we talk about electability. It's the understanding of what voters think that other voters wants. It is an entirely faulty premise based on racist, sexist, and classist understandings of what a president looks like."
"It is total garbage," she argues.
Litman says that in order to challenge the conception that women can't win higher elected offices, it will require support for different types of female leaders, finding ways to make voters and donors comfortable in expressing support for their favored-candidates, and building a stronger pipeline of qualified female politicians through state and local races.
"We saw Kamala Harris in the debate really take on her opponents in a way that was sort of masculine-coded leadership. We've seen Elizabeth Warren whip out plan after plan after plan. We've see Kirsten Gillibrand be aggressive with interviewers who she doesn't think are giving her a fair shake," said Litman. "Each of them is showing a different way of being a female leader."
"Over the last two years, the number of women of color in state legislatures has more than tripled. The number of women in state legislators writ large has gone up by huge numbers," added Litman. "This means, down the line, there will be more qualified women to run for Congress, for governor, and for president."
A record number of women were elected to Congress in the 2018 midterm election, and a record number of women of color were elected to the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, women hold nearly 30 percent of state legislative seats ー totaling more than more than 2,100 ー according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers.
"Women need this experience in order to be considered serious leaders," Litman said. "A woman couldn't get away with a weak resume like a man could."
She pointed out that the serious female contenders for president ー Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Sen. Tulsi Gabbard ー are all current lawmakers. The exception: author and public speaker Marianne Williamson, who has qualified to participate in the second round of the Democratic debates.
Litman says that women can beat male competitors by being willing to work harder and engaging on issues like child care, health care, school, and the opioid crisis. "Mediocre women don't tend to run for office. Only excellent women do," she said.
"The ultimate answer is that to be electable, you have to win," Litman added.
The Biden administration is making changes to federal student loan programs, bringing more than 3.6 million people closer to debt forgiveness under the new rules, providing 40,000 with immediate debt cancellation, and allowing several thousand more with older loans to get some relief. Rob Franek, Editor-In-Chief of the Princeton Review, joined Cheddar News to break down how these changes might impact the lives of student loan borrowers and addresses some of the pushback against doing even more. "This is not a bankruptcy bailout of industries that are supporting the American economy," he said. These are for students right now who would otherwise be hobbled financially if they didn't experience some sort of forgiveness overall."
After a secrecy-shrouded visit to Ukraine's capital, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is failing in its war aims and “Ukraine is succeeding.”
Emmanuel Macron staves off the far right challenger Marine Le Pen in France, conservative lawmakers find themselves embroiled in varying controversies, and pickleball is hotter than ever in the U.S.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 25, 2022, with Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin visiting Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is reelected as president of France, Twitter is talking to Elon Musk about his purchase bid, and more.
An increasing number of countries are recognizing "Rights of Nature", a legal movement that says ecosystems and species have basic rights to exist and flourish. Grant Wilson, executive director at Earth Law Center joins Cheddar News to explain what the movement is aiming to achieve.
The saga surrounding Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter has made its way to Washington, DC. A group of 18 House Republicans are calling on the social media platform's board to preserve all records and documents related to the company's response to the offer from the Tesla CEO. Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia, joined Closing Bell to discuss. "This is a long term play, but it's just a shot across the bow by congressional Republicans, who probably will end up taking the House, that they're going to be tough on Big Tech and they're going use Musk's bid for twitter to take it private, so that he can get the platform to be open source and remove its censorship."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s private government after the entertainment giant criticized a measure that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Autumn Peltier, an indigenous water activist, joined Cheddar News to talk about the lack of access to clean water among indigenous communities in Canada. “I say the government to hold themselves accountable for the promises that they make because Canada and indigenous people have a long history of broken promises and they still continue to this day to keep breaking promises with the nation's people," she said. "Less talk and more action is very much expected from me."
Robert Bonnie, farm production and conservation undersecretary for the USDA, spoke to Cheddar about climate-smart strategies to help farmers reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. "We share the costs of installing those practices on their lands in ways that will protect the climate and maintain agricultural productivity, and we're also partnering with farmers to draw in private investment in greenhouse gas emissions reductions provided by agriculture and forestry," he said. The hope is to get farmers and ranchers to produce climate-smart commodities to lessen the impact of climate change.
