Buckle up, folks! The democratic debates have kicked off and we’re a little over a year away from the election. That’s 489 days but who is actually counting?
I’ll admit, this will be a little one-sided. I was raised a Catholic Democrat in a very red state (yes, they exist) and only shed the first part. I looked up to Mary Moriarty Adams and wanted to help her canvas as a kid since she was a family friend. As a six year old, I passed out flyers for John Day on the curb of the 21st and Sherman polling place until my fingers were frozen and I had to go back inside for a quick break. I listened to my grandma talk about how she voted for Kennedy in her first election and got excited when I voted for Obama in mine. I took it seriously from a young age (except that time I wrote Hello Kitty’s name on a ballot and my grandpa was furious). We’re going through a time that is too serious to just not care. No more sleeping at the wheel or not caring until the primaries or after. I think it’s super important to know where candidates stand and be able to make a real choice based on who you align with or who you feel will do that best at representing what is important to you. I half-agreed with my husband when he said “It’s too early for me to get invested but I don’t want anyone from last year.” Sorry not sorry, Bernie.
I’ve bounced a little since and have donated to a few campaigns. When it came out that Mayor Pete was a Hufflepuff my Slytherin self still donated because Harry Potter! I’ve been working on some grassroots campaigning for Elizabeth Warren as she is my ideal candidate. Or if she wants to tag-team with Kamala Harris, I’d be cool with two presidents. Sadly, that is not how it works. Maybe one of them adopt Mayor Pete as their VP. Also cool with that. It covers so many bases and firsts.
Now, what I’m actually here for — hot takes on democratic candidates!
Michael Bennet — lol, who? Wikipedia says he was born in New Delhi, India and is a Senator from Colorado. And in with the not too old crowd at 54. His name however, is not even a blip on the radar.
Joe Biden — Uncle Joe, I thought we were cool during your time as VP. The friendship bracelets, the memes. But we aren’t cool. You claim to be a champion for women and victims of domestic violence but you can’t keep your hands off women, can’t keep gross jokes from leaving your mouth, can’t make a sincere apology to Anita Hill, and are just appeasing the GOP with your flop on abortion rights and the Hyde Amendment. tl;dr — Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois inserted language into the funding bill for the Department of Labor and Health, Education and Welfare (which funds things like Medicaid). The original text was: “None of the funds contained in this Act shall be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.” It has been updated since to include exceptions for rape and incest. So, your tax dollars ARE NOT funding all the abortions. Your tax dollars ARE NOT funding low-income women that decide to practice their constitutional right (in some states). Sit down, Uncle Joe. I’ll vote blue but I don’t want it to be you.
Cory Booker — Another young-ish guy with promise but too heavily invested in Big Pharma. He tried to make a splash with the younger crowd by flirting with Mindy Kaling on Twitter but it takes political action for me to care.
Steve Bullock — A Governor of Montana and “noncoastal moderate” that somehow won reelection while Trump swept Montana in 2016. How does this happen? I feel like he won’t go far in the cycle but props to him for trying.
Pete Buttigieg — BOOT-EDGE-EDGE. Or just save yourself and call him Mayor Pete. Initially my front runner. A gay, brilliant veteran running the show in South Bend, Indiana. Looks great on paper with his seven languages and eloquent speeches. Legit opposite of Trump. But how far can a Mayor go? Side note: his dogs and husband are a must follow.
Julian Castro — Former Mayor of San Antonio and former HUD Secretary, so that’s impressive. He’s a true underdog in this race as he dazzled the Dem debates last week. Not a front-runner for me but has potential.
Bill de Blasio — A progressive Mayor in New York. That’s all I’ve got.
John Delaney — He was first to file presidential candidate papers and with a new worth of $90 million, he’s self-funding a lot of his campaign. That’s commendable. Do I think he has a legitimate shot? Nah.
Tulsi Gabbard — Let me preface this by saying I support women. I want women to succeed. But I think Tulsi is a little wonky and questionable. I think she took the lyrics from “Like A Girl” to heart. “Woke up feelin’ like I just might run for president, even if there ain’t no precedent.” It’s cool, Tulsi. I love Lizzo, too.
Kirsten Gillibrand — I feel like she lives in the shadow of Kamala and Liz Warren. I really like her and I appreciate her advocacy on sexual assault and harassment victims, highlighting the ugly truth about how rampant it is in the military. She also denounced President Clinton and Senator Franken which caused a stir with the #MeToo movement. It takes balls to do something like that to beloved, yet wrong-doing figures like that. I think she did so with grace and kept those balls firmly in place in the purse sitting beside her.
Mike Gravel — An 89 year old white guy that unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic and Libertarian candidate in 2008. Go home.
Kamala Harris — Anyone that can put Biden in his place without breaking a sweat is a winner in my book. Kamala inserted her own story in about being a young black girl that benefited from busing, something Biden opposes. She rocked the debate and stood out after controlling the candidates by saying “America does not want to witness a food fight, they want to know how we’re going to put food on their table.” But Kamala needs to nail down her stances on things such as private insurance because she’s a moderate in a sea of liberals. That said, I’d still vote for her and hope she ends up somewhere within the White House.
John Hickenlooper — THAT NAME. That’s all I’ve got. Next.
Jay Inslee — He promises to make climate change his top priority and I can get behind that. He also calls Trump out on immigration and the awful things happening to immigrant families. That’s what I know about him. Not a front-runner but he seems like a decent guy.
Amy Klobuchar — Like Mayor Pete, this midwestern lady has the brains we need. She’s been a Senator for Minnesota since 2007 and is a centrist. I like her but probably need to do some more research before the primaries.
Wayne Messam — Someone donate to his campaign so I can see what he has to say!
Wow, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. But we’re almost done!
Seth Moulton — Who? I know absolutely nothing about him.
Beto O’Rouke — Beto… just.. no. We loved you at first but boy, take the hint.
Tim Ryan — Another person I don’t know much about other than he feels like Dems need to reconnect with Rust Belt voters. That’s true, they do. He’s also for the House Democratic Caucus needing new leadership. Also true. Unfortunately, he couldn’t beat Nancy Pelosi. But I’m for cleaning house and letting some younger people in to usher in the new generation, with term limits. *cough Mitch cough*
Bernie Sanders — As a mentioned earlier, NO ONE FROM LAST TIME. Ya’ll screwed it up. Bernie supporters got pissed when he didn’t win the nomination and either voted for Trump or didn’t vote at all. Also, you might have great ideas, but so does Liz and she actually has a plan.
Joe Sestak — ????
Elizabeth Warren — As the kids these days say, “We STAN.” Liz has a plan for everything. The whole DNA thing was terrible and pushed me away from her for a while. But she’s apologized and hunkered down on making real plans. I give her $5 a month and have kept my phone line clear in case she calls because I’d love to pick her brain. She gives me real hope. Hope I haven’t felt since 2008. I might not have to worry about my student loan debt or child care costs anymore, but man, I’d love for other people that are struggling right now with the high costs of both to have some relief. She persists and I admire her. I hope I can meet her one day and show her the “Nevertheless, she persisted” tattoo on my leg. I bet she would be thrilled to know that a portion of the proceeds were donated to PPINK.
Marianne Williamson — She is a modern day peace and love hippie and social justice warrior that writes New Age self-help books. Tbh, I kind of like her. Does she have a snowball’s chance in hell? Nah. But keep doing what you do, girl. Make the world a better place. Also, I think Project Angel Food is commendable.
And finally, Andrew Yang — I had to Google him and I’ll note that Andrew Luck came before him. Yang’s campaign promise is to implement a Universal Basic Income. He wants to give adult Americans $1,000 a month. He disagrees with Bernie on tuition-free public college but has a strategy to help students pay. See: budget like a grown up and you can pay it back. That’s basically it. He does support Medicare for All, paid family leave and wants an easier path for citizenship for undocumented immigrants. That’s cool and all but seeing as how I had to Google him, I don’t think his chances are very high.
I hope this helps! As you can see, I have some studying to do on some of the lesser known candidates, assuming they don’t start dropping like flies before we get to Iowa. May the odds be ever in your favor because like the Hunger Games (a rip-off of Battle Royale — don’t @ me) it’s about to get ugly.
