So Much Winning
If you are a woman in politics, a woman interested in politics, or just a woman who loves watching women succeed, then this was the week for you! My heart is completely full of hope and joy, and it’s all due to three important events starting with the Democratic debates last Wednesday and Thursday, extending through Senator Katie Muth’s appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews last night. Let’s recap, review, and revel in how much winning women are doing right now.
1) Democratic debates
Folks who know me know that I am an unapologetic Elizabeth Warren supporter. And, she did not disappoint on the debate stage last Wednesday. What I realized when I was watching Warren is that you don’t need a tag line, you don’t need a “zinger,” and you don’t need a pre-planned speech that doesn’t even answer the question that was asked. You just need to tell the truth and stand by your convictions no matter how unpopular they may be. Many people have criticized her for raising her hand when asked if she would give up her private insurance in favor of Medicare for all. I applaud it. Our system is beyond broken. On what planet should ANYONE be profiting from illness? It’s unconscionable. We have to tell the truth: The capitalist insurance market is, at best, bankrupting us and, at worst, killing us. No ifs, ands, or buts. Obviously, there would have to be a smart transition from private to public health care; I don’t think anyone could successfully upend the private insurance market overnight with no repercussions. We need a commonsense way to get there. But whatever way we get there, the model should basically be the reverse of Obamacare and many of the other health care plans proposed by the slate of candidates: Instead of maintaining private insurance with an ability to opt into public insurance, we should make all insurance public with an option to buy into private insurance if you want it.
So, I expected Warren to hit it out of the park, and she did. There weren’t many people on stage that could really compete with her. What I was not expecting was the shit show on Thursday night. Not only did many of Thursday’s debate candidates seem petty, rude, and robotic, but a few looked outright senile. However, the bright light in the middle of a dark, dark wood was Senator Kamala Harris. Now, she did have a few of the unnatural “zingers” and planned points that I noted above (yawn…). But, aside from those few canned responses, she was a capital B B-O-S-S. She’s not afraid to tackle tough issues, especially those that deal with race. As a bunch of white folk yell over each other about policing and racial tensions, she sternly said, “As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race.” She then took Joe Biden to task for cozying up to segregationists and for opposing bussing legislation. Whether or not people think it’s fair to bring up someone’s voting record from decades ago, Harris exposed Biden as the dangerous white liberal that MLK Jr. warned us about. Similar to Hillary Clinton, Biden talks (and even sometimes walks) a good civil rights game, but ultimately shows his true colors not only by his actions but by his completely ignorance and tone-deafness. Bravo to Senator Harris for her fearlessness.
2) PACWoman’s Progressive Female Leadership Panel
On Sunday, I attended the Progressive Female Leadership Panel hosted by PACWoman. PACWoman is “a political action committee that identifies and supports progressive Pennsylvanian female candidates in the early stages of their candidacy to help ensure they have a viable campaign through the primary election period.” So, as a progressive woman running for office, I happily signed up to spend three hours with some of our most progressive state and local ladies. The panel discussion was enlightening, ranging in topics from issues that women face on the campaign trail to why so many politicians are lawyers (answer: free and unfettered office space to campaign in! Who knew?). Most importantly, we learned about confidence and solidarity.
As noted by Turn PA Blue Executive Director Jamie Perrapato, the number one issue preventing women from running for office is WOMEN. It’s US!! We get in our own way. Whether it’s imposter syndrome, concerns about family life, or flat out sexism, women are afraid to run (even when data shows that they WIN!). This needs to stop!
Women need to help other women run for office. As PA House Rep Melissa Shusterman said, “This means writing checks.” She’s right: we need to financially support our sisters who are running for office. But, we also need to help out in other ways. We need legislation that allows campaign donations to be used for child/home care. The FEC has already approved this for federal elections, but the states need to get on board for state and local races. We need our partners to step up and take care of domestic life while we are campaigning. This means doing the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, and the childcare. We need employers to offer sabbaticals (or something similar if there are conflicts of interest) for women who need time off from work to run for office. A female candidate should not have to choose between her career and her campaign. We need to target young women to run for office. Many women wait until they are older to begin a campaign, mainly because they are waiting for their children to be grown. However, if we recruited younger women — maybe BEFORE they start thinking about marriage and families — we might be able to appeal to younger voters more broadly.
My only complaint about this event was that there was a dearth of women of color. This is a blind spot for a lot of liberal groups. We need to do better at bringing a range of women and their unique experiences into the movement or there won’t be a movement at all.
3) Katie Muth
If you’re a progressive resident in PA’s 44th senate district, it’s likely that you were a part of the process that led to Katie Muth defeating incumbent Republican John Rafferty in 2018. Since January, Katie has been doing all the right things in the PA statehouse: supporting victims of sexual assault, trying to end workplace harassment, fighting for an increase in the minimum wage, and voting down dismal charter school bills. However, she skyrocketed into the national scene this week when she did what every progressive person in the world wants to do: she spoke eloquently and forcefully on behalf of the underserved and, in the process, made a right-wing bully look like the complete schmuck that he is. If you don’t know the story, here’s a quick recap: During a vote on the state budget, which included the elimination of the state’s general assistance fund, Katie started reading a letter written by John Boyd, a formerly homeless man who used this fund to get his life in order. As she read, Senator Jake Corman began to throw a tantrum, yelling, “Point of order!” and other such nonsense as Katie persevered, raising her voice in an attempt to read Mr. Boyd’s statement over Corman’s meltdown. If you haven’t seen the circus, please watch it here. The video of this incident went viral, and Katie received shows of solidarity from Ava DuVernay, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and even “The Fonz” Henry Winkler.
Many progressives are captured doing or saying the right thing on video, but rarely do we get to do the right thing AND bring down the other side at the same time. Katie gets two wins here, first for being on the right side of a social program aimed at helping PA’s most vulnerable and second for exposing the shameful heartlessness of the Republican Party in the PA statehouse. This video will tip elections across the Commonwealth in 2019 and 2020.
Katie also showed us what women can do in the face of a bully. When voters think (…and say… <eye roll>) that women aren’t strong enough to lead and don’t have the resolve to take on big corporations, reptilian men, or foreign leaders, just point them to this video of Katie completely dominating this snowflake senator who cannot stand to hear how the elimination of this program will hurt the Pennsylvanians he claims to represent. This moment will be an inspiration for the aforementioned women who may be reticent to run for office. This will show them what they can do and who they can be. Most importantly, it will show them that they don’t have to take shit from anyone.
This moment in PA history shows voters that sometimes our politicians really do show up. They actually stand up for what they (and we) believe in. They keep the promises they make. I don’t know about you, but that gives me just a little bit of hope in what sometimes seems like a completely hopeless world.
So, it’s been a good week for women across the nation and in our small neck of the woods here in Pennsylvania. The women I’ve watched this week have made me incredibly proud to be a woman, a Pennsylvanian, and a candidate for office.
#NeverthelessShePersisted
