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Elizabeth Warren Called Out Mike Bloomberg's Treatment of Women at the Latest Democratic Debate


Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) came out hot for the latest Democratic debate, held on February 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her first target? Billionaire and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, who took the debate stage for the first time since entering the 2020 presidential race.

Warren set the tone within the debate’s first minutes, comparing Bloomberg to Donald Trump. “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And, no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” Warren said. “Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and ‘stop and frisk.'”

Bloomberg’s controversial “stop and frisk” policy, which disproportionately targeted black and Latino New Yorkers and was ruled unconstitutional, was a major subject of conversation last night, with Warren adding, “When the mayor says that he apologized, listen very closely to the apology. The language he used is about ‘stop and frisk.’ It’s about how it turned out. No, this isn’t about how it turned out. This is about what it was designed to do to begin with.”

Warren also took Bloomberg to task over allegations within his company of sexual misconduct and gender discrimination against women. Bloomberg tried to highlight women he’s promoted and supported over the years, but Warren wasn’t having it. “I hope you heard what his defense was—’I’ve been nice to some women. That just doesn’t cut it,” she said. She further called on Bloomberg to release women from the the NDAs they’d signed at his company so that the country could hear their stories. “We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many nondisclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against,” Warren continued.

Twitter was buzzing over Warren’s fiery performance. “I don’t know why you guys are surprised. Elizabeth Warren has been taking down rich guys trying to run a grift on you her whole career,” Ashley Nicole Black tweeted. “This is what she was made for. This is just a taste of how she’s going to handle Trump.”

And it would appear that it wasn’t just lip service on social media—the Warren campaign announced they raised $2.8 million last night, the best 24-hour period of fundraising ever.

The next Democratic debate will take place on February 25 in Charleston, South Carolina.



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Kamala Harris Takes a Stand for Women's Reproductive Rights at the Democratic Debate


At the end of the last debate in September, Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) tweeted: “The #DemDebate was three hours long and not one question about abortion or reproductive rights.”

She wasn’t about to let that happen again. At the CNN/New York Times debate, Harris didn’t wait for moderators to raise the issue of attacks on women’s reproductive freedom. When asked to respond to points other candidates had just made about health care, she pivoted. Harris noted that “not one word” about abortion had been said in previous debates, even as state legislatures continue to pursue an agenda that will make women’s health care harder to access and abortion available to fewer and fewer people.

“There are states that have passed laws that will virtually prevent women from having access to reproductive healthcare,” Harris said, to cheers. “And it is not an exaggeration to say women will die. Poor women, women of color will die because these Republican legislatures in these various states who are out of touch with America are telling women what to do with their bodies.”

To raucous applause, she added: “People need to keep their hands off of women’s bodies and let women make the decisions about their own lives.”

But it wasn’t just the audience that celebrated Harris’s sense of urgency. Up on stage, Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) applauded her, too. “God bless Kamala,” he said. “But you know what? Women should not be the only ones taking up this cause and this fight. It is not just because women are our voters and our friends and our wives. It’s because women are people and people deserve to control their own body.”

It shouldn’t come as such a surprise to hear presidential candidates talk about a basic, safe health care procedure—that is, abortion. It shouldn’t be a shock to hear a man defend a woman’s right to choose. When it comes to Roe v. Wade and health care access, most Americans don’t want to go back. But in our current political climate and with conservatives determined to overturn that landmark Supreme Court decision, we can’t take stands like the ones Harris and Booker made for granted.

Viewers seemed to feel the same. Social media exploded in gratitude to the candidates for their support of this essential aspect of women’s health, which, to Booker’s point, doesn’t just affect women and shouldn’t be framed as a “women’s issue.” Women are 51 percent of the population. It shouldn’t take three and a quarter debates to remind people of that inexorable fact.

Mattie Kahn is Glamour’s* senior culture editor. Follow her @mattiekahn.*





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Five Democratic Congresswomen Want to Talk About Anything But Donald Trump


It’s nice to look back on that because when you come to Congress, you’re really encouraged to do your own thing, think only about yourself and your district. But I think we found that we’re stronger when we’re together. And working together now these past few months, we’ve really defied a lot of people’s ideas about how congressmen and women are supposed to behave. Because in the beginning, we heard a lot of, “You just don’t do that.”

Sherrill: I remember I went to someone who I’d known from before I was elected and said, “Oh, should we all get together and talk about a plan for this? Think about where were want to go?” He looked and me and went, “It’s really generally every man for himself.”

Houlahan: It’s a dog-eat-dog world, absolutely.

Glamour: In that environment, have you ever checked in with each other after something happens, to be like, “Is this normal?”

Spanberger: Every day. Every single day we do that.

Houlahan: I keep a list of all that. Literally, I write them down, because I want to remember that this is not normal. I don’t want this to become normal. So I write down all of the things that I think are super offensive, or super broken, or super wrong, so that I can reflect back on them, and not become part of the problem.

Slotkin: We have a never-ending text chain between us, and that’s what we do. “Did anyone else get this set of talking points? Did anyone else see this bill that came forward that we’re supposed to be voting on? Does anyone else have concerns about how this?”

Sherrill: Or sometimes it’s, “Does anybody else know how we’re supposed to find a white suit in the middle of January?”

Spanberger: That one. That is a big one.

Luria: I ordered mine on Ebay. But Mikie has this Brooks Brothers suit that I like, and I saw it was on clearance. I was like, I want that suit, but what if Mikie and I show up in the same suit on the same day?

Sherrill: That would be amazing.

Luria: I could have just said, “It’s our Naval Academy uniform.” Who would have known?

Glamour: Despite your lack of experience in politics, all five of you won these difficult races and I presume learned a lot about how to win difficult races in 2018. How much do you feel that experience and expertise are respected now?

[Laughter]

Sherrill: That’s great.

Houlahan: [Clears throat]

Sherrill: We were just talking about this. Abigail and I were just talking about this, because we had this sense—and at the time, we didn’t know how naive it was—that we could draw on our life experiences and run. And when we told people that we wanted to do that, there was a lot of, “Uh, sure.”

Houlahan: “How cute.”

Spanberger: “Sweet.”

Sherrill: Like, “That’s awesome.” But I think part of the reason a lot of us who are new to politics were able to get in and flip these districts is because people who had been in politics for a while just didn’t see the path. We were so engaged in our neighborhoods and with people throughout our communities that we knew something different was happening. I could feel it in my town, talking to moms in the car line. Hundreds of people came to an event for civic education. We could sense a shift. And then… Well, Elissa has the best line on this.



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No One Asked About Abortion at the Third Democratic Debate. With Kirsten Gillibrand Out of the Race, No One Brought It Up, Either


It has become an almost tragic joke. Another marathon television event with hours of talk about healthcare, but no mention of abortion, birth control, Title X, or President Donald Trump’s crusade against Planned Parenthood. Last night, ABC News held the third 2020 debate Houston. It was also the third presidential debate ever to include more than one token “woman” on stage, which was good and historic, but you might not have known it from the conversation.

At the end of what felt like four thousand hours of discussion about guns, war, Medicare For All, and immigration, I counted zero questions about not just abortion, but paid leave, child care, or the lethal misogyny that has become its own national crisis in America. The moderators did ask (more than once) about health care, but no candidates used those opportunities to talk about abortion, such a common procedure that more than one in four women have one at some point in their lifetimes.

Instead, we had health care debates that focus on prescription drugs, but didn’t mention a prescription drug that millions of women take daily—the pill. While the candidates made their disdain for our current president clear, none mentioned the fact that he once suggested women should be punished for having abortions, has been accused of sexual assault over a dozen times, or cheated on his third wife with an adult film star whom he then disparaged and paid off. In short, to claim that the President of the United States is a misogynist seems almost unfair to misogynists. He’s at war with 51 percent of the population, some of whom, sure, vote for him. But his relentless crusade against women’s rights is treated as basically a political ploy and not an actual ideology with deadly consequences.

Or at least, that’s how it’s treated now that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is out of the race. In her campaign and at debates, Gillibrand repeatedly raised “women’s issues.” But she dropped out of the race a few weeks ago, because she couldn’t qualify for last night’s debate and also because a lot of people still blame her for kneecapping former Senator Al Franken for (of course!) his alleged mistreatment of women.

To be honest, I was never a Gillibrand fan. From the start, there were other candidates I liked better. But I also can admit I found her “grating” and even a little “unlikable,” which, sure, could be the internalized sexism talking. Regardless, last night, it occurred to me that the only person who had even tried to center Me Too, women’s healthcare, sexual assault, paid leave, and those other denigrated “women’s issues” in their campaign was Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand was for women what Washington Governor Jay Inslee was for climate, taking an under-discussed, but urgent issue and making it the center of her campaign. She and he have both since dropped out of the race (even as lesser candidates like Marianne Williamson and Mayor Bill De Blasio remain). But while Inslee’s proposals on climate have been praised across the board and Elizabeth Warren liked them so much she adopted his entire plan, Gillibrand’s platform has been more or less erased. It’s as if what candidates learned from Gillibrand’s run is…not to talk about women at all.



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Kirsten Gillibrand Is the First Woman to Drop Out of the Democratic Presidential Race


Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) has announced that she’s dropping out from the race for president, becoming the first woman in a diverse field to exit the crowded Democratic primary. As the New York Times reported, she decided to withdraw after she failed to qualify for the third Democratic debate.

The move is a blow to some women; Gillibrand was a vocal champion of the Me Too movement and has centered issues of sexual assault both in her Senate career and in this campaign.

In an official statement Gillibrand wrote, “Today, I am ending my campaign for president. I am so proud of this team and all we’ve accomplished. But I think it’s important to know how you can best serve. To our supporters: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Now, let’s go beat Donald Trump and win back the Senate.”

She also spoke with New York Times. In the interview she shared that while she plans to endorse another candidate, she hasn’t picked a favorite. However, she did hint that she would like to see a woman clinch the nomination. “I think that women have a unique ability to bring people together and heal this country,” Gillibrand told the Times before adding, “I think a woman nominee would be inspiring and exciting.” Still, she was clear: “I will support whoever the nominee is, and I will do whatever it takes to beat Trump.”

Gillibrand first announced that she was running for president in January 2018 while appearing on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert. During the segment she said, “I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I fight for my own.” And family remained at the center of her campaign. But she also faced criticism for being the first Democratic senator to ask then Senator Al Franken to step down after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.

While she hasn’t made an official announcement on her post-campaign plans, Gillibrand also told the Times that she would, “absolutely consider anything that was asked of me, because my goal is to serve.”

As of now, ten of the Democratic candidates have qualified for the next debate, and three of them are women. Those female hopefuls include Senator Amy Klobuchar (D–Minn.), Senator Kamala Harris (D–Calif.), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.).





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Watch Kamala Harris Confront Joe Biden About Race at the Democratic Debate


Last night (June 27), the second group of Democratic presidential candidates—including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg—took the stage to debate issues like immigration, health care, and climate change.

But it was a tense exchange about race between Harris and Biden that has everyone talking, both online and off. Harris brought up the subject of race and talked generally about the fact that discrimination is still very much an issue in the U.S. before directing her comments at the former vice president.

“I do not believe you are a racist and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe — and it’s personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,” she said. “It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly.”

She was referring to controversial comments Biden made earlier this month where he talked about his abilities to get things done with people across the aisle during a bygone time of “civility,” mentioning two notable segregationist senators, James Eastland and Herman Talmadge. During his time as a senator, Biden also opposed a federal mandate on busing as a means of integrating public schools.

Biden looked visibly shocked to hear Harris reference herself as a young student who was bussed to school and went on to respond to her other claims. “It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists. The fact is that, in terms of busing, the busing, I never — you would have been able to go to school the same exact way because it was a local decision made by your city council,” he said.

He reiterated his record on other matters related to civil rights and commented on his choice to become a public defender, not a prosecutor like Harris, before shutting down his own argument due to time. “I supported the ERA from the very beginning. I’m the guy that extended the Voting Rights Act for 25 years … I’ve also argued very strongly that we, in fact, deal with the notion of denying people access to the ballot box. I agree that everybody, once they, in fact — anyway, my time is up. I’m sorry.”



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