Gosh, it feels like not too long ago when self-care took over every sector of our existence. Wait. I remember; it was a few years ago — November 8, 2016, to be exact. That dark night drove many of us to therapy and forced us to generate ideas to survive with the You’re Fired Guy as president.
How could Hillary Clinton lose?
Oh, that’s right — the Russians went ham on Facebook ads that peddled false information and the intelligent people we went to college with apparently ate it all up. Lots of realizations came to the forefront. The first moment of clarity was that elections have consequences. The government is coming out of the longest shutdown in history that suspended paychecks for hundreds of thousands of people, transgender people are legally discriminated against by our military, the Supreme Court hardly has a reason to be open-minded anymore, and women’s reproductive health hangs in the balance.
We also learned a lot about our “union,” and the fact that we’re not at all united. We gained confirmation that when presented with the choice to elevate a woman or vote for a racist demagogue, our neighbors and co-workers would gladly jump to perform the latter.
The upside? We only have a short while left with the tantrum-throwing infant in the White House.
The reality? Folks still really haven’t learned anything about what got us into this predicament in the first place.
As we’ve seen this week, social media is on fire with people already unsatisfied with the qualified and competent individuals who have bravely stepped up to the plate to potentially oust the wannabe dictator next year.
As we continue to pick up the pieces of a fragmented country, let’s wipe our lens and get serious about these Democratic candidates because one of them will be going up against Trump and his MAGA flock — and we need to be united in the voting booth.
Let’s take at look the who’s-who of 2020 — so far.
Note: 32 Letter has yet to endorse any candidate. We just know we need a new leader.
Julián Castro
Julián Castro has served as the mayor of San Antonio, was former President Obama’s HUD Secretary (the position currently held by Ben Carson), and rumored to have been strongly considered a potential running mate to Hillary Clinton.
The issues he cares about most include women’s reproductive rights, Black Lives Matter, Medicare for All, and providing at least two years of free college tuition. He has said that if elected the first order of business would be reestablishing the United States in the Paris Climate Accord, the environmental agreement that Trump pulled the U.S. out of because apparently climate change is a hoax.
Lastly, as the descendant of Mexican immigrants, Castro has made it clear that immigration reform will be a central aspect of his campaign. Stay tuned.
Kamala Harris
This has been a long time coming for the California Democrat. Kamala Harrisannounced her 2020 goal on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the campus of Howard University in Washington D.C. As we previously outlined, her proclamation came equipped with a bevy of mixed reviews, with folks pointing out her record as California Attorney General.
RELATED: There’s Something About Kamala Harris
She assisted in that state’s three-strike punishment rule for criminals, which some
Elizabeth Warren
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s announcement into the 2020 race at the top of the year came as no surprise. She’s been vowing to fight for people harmed by Trump’s policies since he walked into the oval office.
The 69-year-old has been one of the major opponents of Wall Street and price-gouging drug companies. She once ordered the CEO of Wells Fargo to resign after it came to light the bank was creating millions of fraudulent customer accounts without permission. Warren’s biggest issue seems to be how she has handled Trump as she’s easily played into his hands with his “Pocahontas” jabs about her alleged Native American heritage.
There’s no telling how far she would make it in the primaries, but a debate between her and Trump would definitely be entertaining.
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard, the 37-year-old American Samoan and Hindu Congresswoman from Hawaii, announced that she was seeking the presidency in 2020 on Van Jones’ CNN talk show.
Almost immediately after going public, internet sleuths dug up some pretty damaging information by the candidate. Gabbard apparently supported lots of anti-LGBT initiatives including conversion therapy through a group her father supported and she once used the term “homosexual extremists” to highlight her disdain for anyone who didn’t follow Christian ideals. She has since apologized for her past allegiances, but whew, that’s a long mile to walk back.
Her current platforms and policies include women’s reproductive rights, affordable housing, criminal justice reform and ending the war in Syria.
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg is 37 years old (35 years younger than Trump for reference), currently serving as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, an Afghanistan vet, and gay and proud of it. He announced his launch of an exploratory committee on Jan. 23.
His campaign video attempts to appeal to younger voters with a focus on the future and the need for a fresh start. While he didn’t explicitly lay out his policy positions or really why we should vote for him (maybe that’s coming later?), he did hype up transforming South Bend from a “dying city” into a place where people know the factories aren’t coming back.
Time will tell if he truly has what it takes to take on Trump.
Kirsten Gillibrand
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand hit the late-night TV trail to announce her run for president on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” earlier this month. The reception on the Twitter streets seemed to be kind of cool on her. I’m a New Yorker, a Brooklyn girl born and bred, and I honestly can’t remember anything truly significant about her. I know she played a role in passing the 9/11 health bill for New Yorkers afflicted with health issues such as cancer after the Twin Tower attacks. She was also a leading proponent to forcing Al Franken resignation from the Senate after accusations of sexual misconduct came about. And, like many
“As a young mom I am going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I will fight for my own, which is why I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege,” she told Colbert. “It is why I believe we should have better public schools for our kids because it shouldn’t matter what block you grow up on. And I believe anybody who wants to work hard enough should be able to get whatever job training they need to earn their way into the middle class.”
It will be interesting to see if she takes a moderate stance on the issues progressives care about or if she’ll follow the spirit of the pack.
Andrew Yang
I keep seeing this guy’s ads all over Facebook. Andrew Yang, a 44-year-old mega-rich entrepreneur, wants to give every American $1,000 a month, an initiative he calls “universal basic income.” It is supposed to fight against the decline of the tech industry. “New technologies — robots, software, artificial intelligence — have already destroyed more than 4 million US jobs, and in the next 5-10 years, they will eliminate millions more. of the tech industry, which has added to the country’s economic pressures,” Yang says on his campaign website.
He is Taiwanese, a Columbia Law School graduate, and the founder of Venture for America, a national entrepreneurship fellowship program.
John Delaney
Businessman John Delany left his cushy seat in Congress to join the ranks of Democrats competing to take Trump out of office. Hailing from Maryland’s 6th District, Delany comes to the competition with a fat wallet as he was once the youngest CEO on the New York Stock Exchange. He got a head start in the race, announcing his plans way back in July 2017 in an op-ed for The Washington Post. He wrote about preparing the country for the future through “technological innovation, automation
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker announced his intent to run for president on the first day of Black History Month. “I believe that we can build a country where no one is forgotten, no one is left behind; where parents can put food on the table; where there are good paying jobs with good benefits in every neighborhood; where our criminal justice system keeps us safe, instead of shuffling more children into cages and coffins; where we see the faces of our leaders on television and feel pride, not shame,” Booker said in a campaign video via NPR.
Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar entered the crowded field with what was probably the first rally to be held in the middle of a snowstorm in early February. The senior Senator from Minnesota has an edge as a Rust Belt candidate who can appeal to the voters that Clinton lost in 2016. She is campaigning on expanding health care and cutting drug prices, adding regulations to fight against climate change, giving support to farmers hurt by climate change, and getting big money out of politics.
Bernie Sanders
The 77-year-old Democratic Socialist, Vermont Senator and failed 2016 candidate is back. Sanders launched a second grassroots-style presidential campaign in hopes that voters will still be feeling the
Jay Inslee
Jay Inslee, the current governor of Washington State, kicked off the month of March with the announcement that he is running for president. He is said to be an environmentalist and a huge advocate for legislation to fight climate change — even calling for a nuclear option to do so. The “first and paramount duty of the next president has to be to tackle climate change,” he said at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, according to Mother Jones. Inslee is the only candidate who supports ending the filibuster to address the climate crisis, the site reported.
John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper is the former governor of Colorado and the former mayor of Denver. He’s also considered a long shot for earning the Democratic nomination. As candidates like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker lean to the left, he stands out in the crowded field as a moderate. His top issues include fighting for gun control, supporting gay rights, and expanding Medicaid, according to the New York Times.
Marianne Williamson
Not a politician by any stretch, Marianne Anderson separates herself from the pack as a self-help author (she’s published dozens of titles including “A Course In Weight Loss” and “A Return to Love”). In 2014, she rang for Congress as in independent ad lost, according to the New York Times. What has voters’ interest peaked is her campaign platform of fighting for reparations (she wants create a law that will issue $100 billion in reparations for slavery).
More great 32 Letter reads below:
How to handle a toxic work-life environment
Here’s how to quit the job you hate with pride
How to survive the first week at that big, new job
How to write a job-winning cover letter
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