The time six women ran for president…and one became Vice President
In September 2019, I wrote my first piece for CTC. It began:
“As a professor who teaches Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies, the 2016 election knocked me on my ass. I mean literally. After Donald Trump was declared the winner in the wee hours of Wednesday November 9th, 2016, I fell to the floor of my bedroom and cried.”
I recounted my fear and grief, and then pivoted to the sheer will of women post-2016 to right the wrong. I outlined the historic nature of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary with the six women running for the as-of-yet-reached highest position in the U.S. government. I ended squarely where a discussion about women in U.S. politics should, with Rep. Shirley Chisholm:
“Finally, on her run for president in 1972, Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman ever elected to Congress, said, ‘I want to be remembered as a woman… who dared to be a catalyst of change.’ So, let’s honor Representative Chisholm and do the damn thing.”
Well, CTC fam, we DID the damn thing. We may not have shattered the highest, hardest glass ceiling, but we shattered the one right beneath it. On August 11, again on November 7, and finally at 12pm on January 20, 2021, Senator Kamala Harris is Vice President Kamala Harris. This was an election like no other, one shrouded in mis- and disinformation, division, and unprecedented attacks on the cornerstone of our democracy BY THE SITTING PRESIDENT. Oh, and all during the pandemic. I refuse to write one more sentence about the President and his allies’ dangerous behavior over the last four weeks. It is a distraction from President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris’ historic win.
Speaking of wins, the 2020 election:
had the highest voter turnout in modern U.S. history - over 155 million votes cast (and counting)
delivered the winning candidate more votes than any candidate in U.S. history - 80,934,084 (and counting)
is sending: more women to Congress than ever - 141
more Republican women to Congress than ever - 17 new members
the first Korean American woman to Congress - Marilyn Strickland
more BIPOC to Congress than ever
the first Black gay men to Congress - Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones
the first openly trans person to a state Senate - Sarah McBride
made New Mexico the first state in U.S. history whose congressional delegation is all women of color
produced TWO run-off Senate races in Georgia to decide the Senate majority…I see you, Cherrón
There are more, but I suppose these will do…for now.
Aside from the election results, the Biden-Harris Administration is slated to be the most diverse in history, with an all-female Communications team, the first female Secretary of Treasury, and the first Hispanic Secretary of Homeland Security, to name a few. The criticism of the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in some of the top Cabinet positions is well-placed, though. People of color delivered President-Elect Biden his victory, especially in Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada, and he has promised a team that looks like the U.S. itself. Andre Perry argues, “Biden has an obligation to deliver an agenda that addresses past and present racism—a central charge of those who supported his candidacy.” This starts with seats and voices at the tables where decisions are being made. Therefore, we should expect a more representative administration. We deserve that. We have waited long enough for it.
This takes me to Vice President-elect Harris. On Saturday night November 7th, the evening the Biden-Harris ticket was declared victorious, there was a drive-in victory event in Delaware. Normally, an event like this is planned on a grand scale, and the one at the top of the ticket gives an acceptance speech. But on this night, Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris’ daughter spoke first. In her suffragist white suit, she said she was thinking about:
“The generations of women — Black women. Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation's history who have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”
Just as she proclaimed she stood on their shoulders, a new generation of budding leaders will stand on hers. My sister got me a Kamala Harris action figure last month for my birthday (it goes great with my Ruth Bader Ginsburg one pictured in my CTC post about her death). My nine-year old daughter asked if she could keep it in her room for a while; it sits proudly on the little bench next to her bed. Every time she sees it as she rolls over to go to sleep, she will see herself and all her possibilities.
At this point, you might be saying, “Polysue, it is not all coffee and champagne! We are still a bitterly divided nation full of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, fear, hostility and rage.” If you are doing this, you would be correct. Ding! Ding! Ding! We know this is America. One election. Dozens of newly elected and appointed government officials. A few good speeches. These will not overturn the last four years, let alone the last 400.
Yet, I sit here writing this, when I should be grading final papers, watching my two daughters make their way through remote learning, looking at the sun outside my window. It’s cold here today. The wind is blowing, and it sends a chill through your body - the kind that makes your ears so cold you get a headache. I cannot change the weather, but I choose to focus on the sun, the bright spot. Today, just for today, I listen to Vice President-elect Harris again when she said, “protecting our democracy takes struggle. It takes sacrifice. There is joy in it and there is progress.” We celebrate that did the damn thing, but we are not done yet…
Author: Suzanne Chod