2020 Primaries
Who’s hot and who’s not?
By Avery Wageman
The 2020 primaries began February 3, and the number of Democratic presidential nominees is beginning to narrow down. In the process of writing this article, there were eight Democratic nominees. However, it should be noted that as of March 2, Tom Steyer, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg have dropped out.
For those who have no idea what the primaries are, they are a 4-month voting process that occurs in each state that eventually determines the candidate for each of the political parties. Like the vote for the general election, the success of each candidate is determined by the popular vote, which is the number of votes from the public, and the delegates, who are elected in each state to determine who will be nominated for president in their state. The candidate with the greatest number of delegates will get the nomination for their party.
Each of the two main political parties have their own primaries, but Trump is supported by the majority of his party and is running virtually unopposed as the Republican candidate.
Because there is a large number of Democratic candidates running, it may be difficult to keep track of everyone’s platforms and achievements within the primaries. To determine who’s hot and who’s not, I am considering the number of delegates each candidate has won, who has won the popular vote in each state, their platforms, and their history in politics and activism. The distinctions between the two categories are also based on my own opinion, so I want to make it clear that I am not trying to tell anyone who to vote for; I am expressing my views.
For the category of who’s not, here are the nominees:
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is running on the moderate end of the Democratic spectrum. She’s been doing somewhat well, and received a decent turnout in Iowa and New Hampshire, but was competing for the moderate voters with Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg. Her performances in the Democratic debates have been cringe-worthy though. She was called out at the Nevada Debate for not knowing the name of Mexico’s president, and the call-out was justified as she recently voted for a treaty with Mexico that the Mexican president had lobbied for. The fact that someone who is not only running for US president but is also a senator does not know the name of Mexico’s president is alarming.
Tom Steyer is one of two billionaires running for the Democratic nomination, but unlike the other, he has no experience in politics. He leans toward the progressive end of the Democratic spectrum and promises to limit the political influence of big money, but as big money himself, his stance is a bit hypocritical. Steyer is a rich white man with the power to help fight climate change or end poverty in the US, but instead, he is choosing to spend his money in a political race that he has a small chance of winning.
Tulsi Gabbard is a House Representative from Hawaii; she is an Iraq veteran and the first Hindu Representative in the House. She has progressive stances on popular issues, such as legalizing marijuana, but has a shady history in terms of her political career. A few examples include her controversial visit with the Syrian president in 2017, which may have violated the Logan Act, which bars private citizens from visiting the leaders of countries the US is in conflict with without authorization. She has also made anti-LGBTQ comments in the past, and voted “present” on Trump’s articles of impeachment. Voting “present” means that rather than voting for or against the impeachment charges, she opted out. I am not a fan of someone who is too afraid to voice their opinion on one of the most terrifying presidents the US has had in recent history.
Michael Bloomberg is the former mayor of New York whose political ads you have definitely seen before, mostly because he has spent $410 million on them. I would consider Bloomberg to be the most concerning of the Democratic nominees. Throughout his political career, he has changed parties several times and ran as a Republican when he was elected mayor. He is alarmingly similar to Trump in several ways: both are billionaires, both have an outstanding number of sexual assault allegations against them, and both have supported stop-and-frisk policing.
Now, for who’s hot, here are the nominees:
Bernie Sanders has been a Vermont senator since 2007, was once the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and also served as a representative. As of March 2, Sanders has won the popular vote in three of the four states that have held their primaries so far and has 60 delegates, the highest number of any of the nominees. He has previously identified as an Independent, so his policies are highly progressive. The major issues his campaign is focusing on are canceling all student debt, providing free college, creating affordable housing, and supplying free healthcare for everyone. Though many people critique Sanders for how he plans to pay for all of these “free” programs, he has created detailed and comprehensive plans to carry them out. Sanders is also the candidate with the most aggressive stance in favor of immigration and is the only nominee who wants to abolish the U.S. Immigrations and Customs agency, also known as ICE. His campaign seems to speak to people from every demographic (except rich white men, probably), and he seems to care about the well-being of every American. He was an activist long before he was a politician, and his dedication to the people rather than big corporations and money is demonstrated in his win of the popular vote in the majority of states so far.
Elizabeth Warren has been a Massachusetts senator since 2013 and is running as a progressive. As of March 2, she has eight delegates. She is well-spoken and relentless in the Democratic debates, exemplified by her confrontation of the unknown number of non-disclosure agreements signed by women who have accused Bloomberg of sexual assault. She is the strongest female candidate for president and has the most extensive platform on women’s health. The platform includes preventing legislation passed by states that would restrict abortion access and providing federal funding for birth control and abortions. Her platform also includes strict plans to address the wealth tax and create sustainable energy while providing jobs for American workers. Warren is a strong candidate and has an extensive platform, but there are a couple of troubling aspects to her campaign that make me cautious to support her. The first is when in 2018 she boasted about her DNA test results and identification as Cherokee. Many tribal leaders and the Cherokee Nation asked for an apology because her claim and the test results romanticize indigenous heritage. She has since attempted to apologize but has not addressed in detail the severity of harm that this type of claim can have on Native people. She also has not denounced the family stories of her alleged indigenous heritage she says she grew up hearing. Warren has made a half-hearted attempt to address the larger problems that stem from this claim. The second aspect of her campaign that I find troubling is that recently a handful of black female staffers have left her campaign because of a toxic work environment and feeling tokenized by the campaign. The women say that the problems were not addressed when they expressed concern to their respective HR departments. She appears to be someone to fight for the people but has not shown that she is fighting to understand the concerns of everyone, especially black women and Native people, two groups that are often ignored by politicians.
Joe Biden, the former vice president and Delaware senator, has 54 delegates after the South Carolina primary, and as of March 2, he has the second-highest number of delegates. He is the candidate with the most experience with foreign policy and boasts about his experience and his relationship with Obama quite often in the Democratic debates. Biden is the most popular nominee amongst moderate Democratic voters, so his policies are not as aggressive as some of his opponents. He does not support Medicare for All, but he plans to create an extended form of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. He is also the only Democratic nominee who hasn’t endorsed reparations (reparations are a way of acknowledging atrocities committed to a certain group, in this case, reparations would be paid to descendants of slaves. Payment is not necessarily money) for those of African descent. There have been several accusations of sexual misconduct (inappropriate kissing and gesturing) made against him that he has not addressed, and he was slow to apologize to the women.
Pete Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and is running as a moderate Democrat. As of March 2, he has 26 delegates, the third most amongst the nominees. He is an Afghanistan veteran and is the first openly gay candidate to run for president. His platform is pretty standard. He supports the creation of a voluntary buyback program for assault weapons, supports creating a path for Dreamers to earn citizenship, and wants to legalize marijuana. His platform is competent, but his disconnect from voters of color is troubling, and his campaign is lacking in support from African American voters. This is related to his inaction after the death of a 54-year-old black man shot by a white police officer in South Bend in 2019.
No matter who you vote for, please vote! Voting is a right that gives us more power than many believe, and every vote matters. Any of these candidates (except maybe Bloomberg) are good alternatives to the vulgar, hateful man who holds office now.