With Bernie out, progressive women become key for Biden
By Errin Haines
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.
Within hours of Bernie Sanders’ exit from the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden was urging Democratic voters to rally around him as the presumptive nominee, but for some progressive voters, the choice may not be that simple.
Despite being the last man standing, Biden must still energize the coalition he will need to defeat President Donald Trump in November and avoid a repeat of 2016, when enough independents defected to vote Republican in key swing states.
A Pew Research Center study conducted in March 2019 showed a race and gender gap among voters who identified as independent, 56 percent of men compared to 44 percent of women and 61 percent of whites compared to 9 percent of black and 18 percent of Hispanics.
Rutgers University political scientist Kelly Dittmar said there is not yet empirical evidence on whether progressive women will be willing to back Biden in the fall. But women are both the majority of the electorate and Democrats, and the party’s top priority is ousting Trump.
“Progressive women of color did support Sanders in higher numbers this time comparatively to last time,” said Dittmar. “Where do they go and what does it take to get Biden to draw in these voters? If we think about what is on the line for them, we might see more malleability among that group because of the calculations that might be made about what is best for them and their communities.”
Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the other leading progressive candidate, may have left the primary field, but the ideas they campaigned on, like Medicare for All and eliminating student loan debt, have gained traction — and have become more urgent amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“What we’re seeing right now with the crisis is how it has completely crippled our economy and displayed how fragile and insecure people’s ability to survive is.”
“What we’re seeing right now with the crisis is how it has completely crippled our economy and displayed how fragile and insecure people’s ability to survive is,” said Angela Peoples of Black Womxn For, a coalition of progressive organizers that endorsed Warren for president in November.
Women are disproportionately being impacted by the pandemic. Nearly 60 percent of the 701,000 lost jobs in March were held by women, according to estimates from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The National Women’s Law Center has found that two-thirds of low-wage workers are women, making up the majority of minimum wage workers in all 50 states.
Supermajority co-founder Cecile Richards said women, including progressives, need a specific stimulus package in response to the coronavirus crisis.
“It’s important that this presidential campaign appreciate that women feel unseen, they’re scared, they’re worried about their economic future and they need someone to acknowledge that,” Richards said.
Biden has already pledged to select a woman as his vice presidential running mate, and this week he incorporated plans to lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 and to forgive student debt for low- and middle-class families. On Thursday, he addressed the racial disparities in deaths in cities across the country and called for the release of data on age, income and race.
Sanders suspended his campaign on Wednesday, but said he would remain on the ballot in upcoming primaries.
“While Vice President Biden will be the nominee, we must continue working to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic convention, where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions,” said Sanders in a video to supporters after congratulating Biden and pledging to work with him “to move our progressive ideas forward.”
On Thursday, the Biden campaign announced the endorsements of Congresswomen Katie Porter of California and Deb Haaland of New Mexico, both former campaign chairs for Warren. The third chair, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, has not endorsed Biden and Warren herself has not backed the former vice president.
“He has to come out for progressives, and his best bet is progressive women, who are not only going to vote for you, but do the work to mobilize the masses to vote.”
The remaining members of “The Squad” — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Minnesota and Ilhan Omar of Michigan — supported Sanders during his campaign and have not switched their support to Biden.
“He has to come out for progressives, and his best bet is progressive women, who are not only going to vote for you, but do the work to mobilize the masses to vote,” said LaTosha Brown of Black Voters Matter. “White men operate from a place of privilege. They have the luxury of saying ‘my candidate or no one.’ They’re not as vulnerable as the rest of us.”
Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner said it would be “hubris” on Biden’s part not to respond to “the cries of the poor and working class” in this moment, adding that his current plans on health care and college debt “don’t cut it.”
“It’s inadequate in the best of times and it is definitely inadequate right now,” said Turner. “
|
|
|
|
CARE PACKAGE
The median wage for child care workers is $11.17 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The industry is roughly 92 percent female.
“At the beginning of this crisis, nearly 50 percent of child care providers predicted that they would not survive more than two weeks of closures without support,” hundreds of child care providers and advocacy organizations wrote in a signed letter to Congress, requesting additional financial assistance for these low-wage workers. “Many of these closures have begun, and without a clear end in sight, the widespread effects are already being felt.”
|
|
 What we're reading
Kayleigh McEnany set to become fourth Trump press secretary. McEnany, who previously served as the national press secretary for President Trump’s reelection campaign, has come under scrutiny for some of her past controversial statements — including engaging with the birtherism conspiracy — since her announced appointment. (CNN, April 7)
Congress Needs a Plan to Confront the Coronavirus. I Have One. Sen. Elizabeth Warren may be off the campaign trail, but she’s back with her familiar refrain: “I have a plan for that.” (The New York Times, April 8)
'We Won’t Let Him Die in Our Ambulance.' A Day With a Paramedic Facing the Coronavirus Pandemic. A day in the pandemic-altered life of Alanna Badgley, a paramedic in Westchester County, N.Y. (Time, April 9)
Pope institutes new commission to study women deacons. Research from the last commission on the subject, in August 2016, was deemed “inconclusive.” Currently, only men can be ordained deacons in the Catholic Church. (Vatican News, April 8)
🎧 Listen: Ai-jen Poo, co-founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, talks with Krista Tippett of On Being. The interview was recorded before the coronavirus became a global pandemic, but Poo’s message resonates all the more now. (On Being)
📺 Watch: This short video about the first female “aquanauts,” a group of five women doing marine research for NASA in the 1970s. “We knew we were in a glass fishbowl and everyone was watching us,” said Alina Szmant, one of the aquanauts. (BBC News)
|
|
|
|
|
|
