I just read an opinion piece by Michael Starr Hopkins, writing for thehill.com, and I think I agree with his conclusion – though not in the way he might expect.
Mr. Hopkins believes that it would be great if the Democrat Party would offer voters a Kamala Harris/Kristen Gillibrand ticket….or maybe Kristen Gillibrand/Kamala Harris ticket… in 2020.
Here is part if his argument:
Rising stars Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) seem to have the rare ability to unite the party and excite the various factions making up the base. While the senators originate from very different sections of the country, their paths to elected office are extremely similar. Both women began their careers as attorneys prior to landing in the U.S. Senate. Both women have publicly endorsed a single-payer health-care system. Harris recently said, “It’s not only about what’s morally and ethically right. It also just makes sense from a fiscal standpoint or a return on investment for taxpayers.”
Support from President Obama and fellow women senators like Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have only increased the national profile of Harris, who served six years as the attorney general of California before winning a seat in Congress in 2016. Often compared to Obama as a result of her mixed-race upbringing, Harris has not been shy about tackling issues relating to income inequality, racial justice and health security.
Both Harris and Gillibrand hold no punches and have been criticized for exhibiting the same political aspirations as many of their male counterparts. Harris has been no stranger to addressing controversy head-on. She began her first year in Washington by addressing the Women’s March, challenging Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an open Senate hearing and taking President Trump to task for his response to the events in Charlottesville, Va. As the polls closed on election night last November, Harris told a rowdy California crowd that she intends “to fight.” Less than a year into her first term, Harris has stayed true to her words.
The same can be said for Gillibrand, who has been championing access to health care since her 2006 run for Congress. The junior senator from New York has been outspoken about her support for the public option, her support for a living wage and most recently, her criticism of Trump’s executive order restricting transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. military. Gillibrand’s ability to speak to the concerns of upstate, blue-collar union workers as well as downstate minorities and millennials has Democrats excited about the extent of her political future.
Yep, there’s a dream team if there ever was one. Two female senators, neither of them with so much as one minute’s executive experience, neither of them with so much as one minute’s foreign policy experience, neither of them with so much as one minute’s business experience, running the country. But both of them with rock solid left wing credentials, very much including the identity-politics that have devastated their party over the last four elections.
It is undeniable that this would make the Democrat’s increasingly hard-left base happy, even joyous…at a gain of exactly no votes, since very one of them is voting Democrat anyway.
Now: who else would it please? Anyone? Maybe a few of the “antifa” people who might otherwise write in George Soros, but that’s about it.
And who would it lose?
Well, it certainly would continue to alienate the working class midwesterners who turned away from Hillary Clinton last year, throwing the presidency to Donald Trump.
And it certainly would alienate moderate Democrats, who would be watching the party they originally cast their lot with move further and further away from the reasons why.
And it certainly would alienate voters – mostly men but, I have no doubt, some women as well – who would have trouble with an all-woman ticket.
Add it all up. Does that look like a net gain to you, or a net loss?
So the bottom line is that, yes, it would be great if there were a Harris/Gillibrand or Gillibrand/Harris ticket in 2020…
…if you happen to be a Republican.
