Now, what?
In the wakes of one of the longest and nastiest presidential campaigns, it seems like the wounds are still fresh to many left-leaning Americans, even after Donald Trump was sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, 2017. While it’s impossible to predict what the political topography will look like in 2020, the New Yorker is right about one thing: Democratic women must be “at least as brazen as Republican men are in deciding whether to run for President.” Think about it. Donald Trump has no track record of public service. Rather he has a record of the opposite, a neverending list of disqualifying actions and statements. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, had no political experience whatsoever either. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were first-time senators when both decided to run for the presidential office -- Ted Cruz was only a third into his Senate term when he announced his run for president, two-thirds for Marco Rubio. Women in all careers tend to feel that they need to perfect their resumes before jumping in; maybe we don’t have to look before we leap so often.
As shown by Hillary Clinton’s victory with the popular vote, it looks like America really is ready for a female president. So, in honor of the Women’s Marches taking place all over the country and the world, here is a list of strong, independent women in American politics who can inspire all of us to rise up.
Till then, God save us all.
1. Elizabeth Warren
This one is pretty obvious. As the senior senator from Massachusetts, Warren has won many Twitter wars against President Trump, and she is one of the Democratic Party’s shining stars. Like Hillary Clinton, Warren is a strong woman who has devoted her life to public service; like Bernie Sanders, Warren is an unabashed progressive who can carry on Sanders’ message to fight income inequality. She has something that no one else does -- strong celebrity, strong record, and strong fundraising.
2. Amy Klobuchar
A senior senator from Minnesota since 2006, Klobuchar has one of the highest approval ratings in the country. Klobuchar satisfies the three P’s: popular, practical, and progressive. She may be the key to winning back the Rust Belt and Midwest swing states, which have been proven influential for Donald Trump’s victory. Klobuchar is a fierce advocate for women’s rights and has led the movement to curb sexual assault in the military with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (see #3) and others. She also teamed up with Bernie Sanders to create a measure that would stand up to Big Pharma and drive down drug costs by importing them from Canada. The only question is whether Klobuchar can financially compete with some of the bigger names in this list (i.e. Gillibrand).
3. Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand, who took over Hillary Clinton’s empty seat in the Senate in 2010, also has high approval ratings among her constituents in New York. She won over the affection of LGBTQ+ activists after playing an important role in repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Gillibrand is a strong proponent for women’s rights and has pushed for more transparency on Capitol Hill; she even published her public schedule and personal financial disclosures online. Fundraising shouldn’t be too big of an issue for her, either. While she has moved hard to the left since her days in the U.S. House, Gillibrand can easily win over both Democrats and Republicans alike, but her opposition to some gun control measures while in office has raised eyebrows among New York’s far-left constituents.
4. Tulsi Gabbard
First female president and first Hindu president? Tulsi Gabbard is a U.S. representative and combat veteran from Hawaii. In the words of the Washington Post, “her decision to resign as vice chair of the Democratic National Convention looks brilliant in hindsight given how the DNC became the symbol of many liberals' issues with the Democratic Party,” especially because she left her post to endorse and campaign for Bernie Sanders. She also came out of the Podesta-DNC hacking scandal completely unscathed. Check out the video that she made for the Sanders campaign before the Hawaii primary below.
5. Kamala Harris
As an Indian-American from the Bay Area, I know a lot about Kamala Harris. She spent 6 years as California’s attorney general, elected twice as San Francisco’s district attorney. Harris now represents California in the Senate, the first Indian-American woman to ever serve in the Senate and the first African-American woman to serve in the Senate since Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL). If Harris decides to run, she’ll be on the same timetable as Barack Obama when he was elected to the Senate in 2004, and she would be a formidable candidate. She has a strong fundraising and activist base in California, the most populous state in the country.
6. Maggie Hassan
The new senator from New Hampshire would be on the same schedule as Kamala Harris, but her experience as governor of the small New England state will prove valuable if she ever decides to run in 2020. Still, as someone from a small northeastern state, she may have a few issues with fundraising, which does make a big difference.
7. Tammy Duckworth
Duckworth joins Harris and Hassan as a new senator from Illinois after serving in the House. Her story of the time she lost both of her legs while serving in the Iraq War is inspiring and compelling, and her Thai-Chinese heritage could allow her to break two boundaries if she is elected president in 2020: first female president and first Asian-American president.
8. Tammy Baldwin
