Sen. Elizabeth Warren Says She Was Told to 'Smile More' to Win Male Voters

From ELLE

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a plan for everything, including winning over male voters in the 2020 presidential election. During a town hall on Monday in New Hampshire, one voter posed the question, "How can we get men to vote for a woman for president?"

Barely missing a beat, Warren responded, "How about we give them a tough, smart woman to vote for?"

"I see this as a lot of women and a lot of men want us to have a country that works for not just a handful but a country that works for everyone. And that’s what I’m counting on. But if you’ve got more ideas? I was told what I needed to do was smile more," she said before flashing a forced, sarcastic smile at the crowd.

It's a suggestion that women know intimately well, and it was one that was often lobbed at Hillary Clinton as she ran for president. As the Huffington Post points out, Warren has spoken about people advising her to smile in the past, telling a crowd in October, "I went to Washington and people would say—experts also known as Senators—would say to me that what you’re talking about is too hard, it’s got to many pieces. It’s too complicated. Think generalities. Smile more, that’s how people run for president."

Warren's comment on Monday also comes after a series of pointed remarks from her opponents Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Without naming her, Biden wrote in a Medium post last Tuesday that Warren has an "angry unyielding viewpoint," and Buttigieg recently suggested Warren is "so absorbed in the fighting that it is as though fighting were the purpose."

Both Biden and Buttigieg's campaigns have denied that their comments were steeped in sexism. But as Amanda Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Barbara Lee Foundation, which conducts research on women seeking elected office, told The Washington Post, "Labeling a woman angry, or emotional or shrill, is a well-worn strategy when it comes to attacking women’s qualification to serve an office. Voters will not support a woman they do not like even if they believe she’s qualified. But they will vote for a man they do not like."

You Might Also Like

• 10 Pairs of White Sneakers That Go With Everything

• 50 Surprising Things You Never Knew About 'Sex and the City'

• 20 Serums to Solve All Your Skincare Problems