Why We Need a Two Woman Presidential Ticket

From Harper's BAZAAR

You can’t have two women on the Democratic Party ticket. That’s something everyone seems to agree on. You can’t have an Elizabeth Warren/Kamala Harris ticket or a Kamala Harris/Elizabeth Warren ticket.

It simply can’t be done! Two women? On a ticket together? It’s too radical!

To which I’m going to respectfully say: To hell with that thinking. Put two women on the Democratic Party ticket. Specifically, Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

Bothered by it? No one has been troubled by the fact that presidential political party tickets have been composed of two men since the beginning of time.

If you want the best people, then some variation on Warren/Harris should at least be considered. According to a Change.org poll in California, the two are leading the pack of candidates in that state’s primary with Harris at 23 percent and Warren at 22 percent.

News outlets seem in agreement that the June debates belonged to Warren and Harris.

It’s entirely possible that one of these women will win the race for Democratic presidential candidate, and when she does, it’s already assumed that she will select one of the male candidates as her running mate.

But what if she doesn’t take this conventional route? What if we see an all-female ticket? It could be great.

The current national front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, crumbled in the debate when faced with resistance from Harris; it’s worrisome to think about how Republicans might oppose him and simultaneously exciting to think about how Harris might confront President Trump.

Both Warren and Harris are, if absolutely nothing else, very good at debating. They’ll be able to hold their own against Trump, a man who feels comfortable shouting over his opponents. As for the time former first lady Hillary Clinton attempted to be polite while Trump hulked behind her … I think by now, women, and these two senators in particular, would be willing to confront him head-on. Millions of women have marched in the street against Trump. In 2019, we’re well past worrying about seeming polite, and we might enjoy seeing an accused rapist called out for his behavior. I would certainly prefer this potential debate to Biden’s plan to challenge the president to a push-up contest.

Having two women on a ticket also eliminates worries about #MeToo allegations. If anyone can look Trump in the eye and remind him that he’s been accused of sexual misconduct by 24 women without being accused of being too handsy (Biden) or writing bizarre essays about women (Bernie), it’s probably a woman. Trump can’t turn around and accuse her of similar behavior, because it would seem openly ludicrous. I can pretty much assure you that, at the very least, Warren was not on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s plane. (Don’t you dare make me a liar on this, Liz.)

And wouldn’t it be lovely to see Vice President Mike Pence, a man who refuses to be alone in a room with a woman, have to debate one onstage? A woman who might, indeed, ask him whether his refusal to be alone with female colleagues means he gets somewhat limited input from women on issues?

This ticket might appeal to the college-educated women who are currently fleeing the Republican Party in droves, but you’re probably wondering, Won’t it offend the theoretical guy who picks the president? The guy who is undecided because he feels both the Democrats and the Conservatives are too radical? The guy who says he loves Martin Luther King Jr. but likes ladies to wear skirts? The guy who hates both Trump’s Twitter account and transgender bathrooms, because he is from Iowa, as if that is just a view people are required to support in Iowa?

I hear a great deal about that guy. His wishes are supposed to be the nation’s desires, and we should all strive to accommodate him.

To which I’m going to say: Why are you trying to appeal to that guy? That guy sucks, if he even exists. Don’t let the most milquetoast person you can imagine pick who runs for president.

Republicans chose a man who appealed to the most radical, fringe elements of their base—the deplorables who support the idea of torturing immigrants, because they feel threatened by an America that might not be run by white men. Studies consistently find that the voters for Trump were motivated not by “economic anxiety” but by “the nativist narrative about ‘taking back America’ and anti-immigrant sentiment.”

Traditional Conservatives who just wanted tax breaks fell neatly in line. Perhaps because they didn’t really care about racist rhetoric, or perhaps because they just loved tax breaks that much. If they’re not already horrified by the fact that Trump is running veritable concentration camps where three-year-old immigrants are being forced to pick which parent remains with them (and, no, for the last time, Obama did not have a child separation policy), then I doubt the sight of Biden’s manly forearms in rolled up shirtsleeves is going to tip them over into voting Democrat.

The determining vote in the presidency doesn’t need to be your dad’s lamest friend. It probably won’t be. Your dad’s white-bread friend may not have much to lose. No one is going to ask him what his ethnicity is.

It’s much more likely that the deciding vote is the mass of newly politically engaged young people and women who created a pink wave during the midterms. In 2018, women outvoted men. The number of voters under age 35 jumped from 16 percent in 2014 to 21 percent in 2018. And at the Netroots Nation for progressive activists, attendees listed Warren as their first choice and Harris as their second.

We should not try to adhere to the same molds that have been presented for all of history, because the nation is no longer being run by the same traditional people. It’s a new age of POC and women and younger people taking charge.

It’s time Democrats worry about appealing to those very real people rather than the mythical white farmer they’re constantly courting.

('You Might Also Like',)

• The Essential British Packing List

• 30 Facial Moisturizers for Every Budget

• We Cut Bangs on 16 Different Women With The Help of Celebrity Stylist Justine Marjan