Return of the Bern

Democratic Primary 2020: Return of the Bern

Alright folks, a quick preface: In the interest of keeping this column below 2,000 words, I will be doing a limited breakdown of each candidate. If I misstate your favorite candidate’s positions, or offer an ungenerous breakdown of a town hall answer, then I am deeply sorry. Alas, I am a human being with his own opinions and biases, and cannot monolithically offer a breakdown of the candidates that everyone agrees with.

The 2020 Democratic primary is in full swing. Eleven candidates that I would call “major” have announced their candidacy (yes, I’m throwing Schultz in with the Democrats). Presumably, Beto O’Rourke and Joe Biden will also throw their hats into the ring in the next few months. O’Rourke seems to be a done deal, while Biden might still decide not to run. I’ve been trying my best to research each candidate and get an idea of who I would support as the 2020 Democratic nominee. I ranked the 11 candidates based on a variety of factors: who I think has the most momentum, who I think would make the best nominee against Trump, who I think will realistically gain enough delegates to become the nominee, and more.

Bernie Sanders: For 2020, Bernie is my guy. I was apolitical and apathetic before 2016, but I was almost immediately enraptured by him. The more I learned, the more I fell in love. When Bernie was the mayor of Burlington, VT, he would issue anti-imperialist proclamations, and once wrote a letter to Margaret Thatcher complaining about her treatment of the Irish! Who does that? Bernie does. Videos of him openly standing up for LGBT members of the American military in the ’90s. Who does that? Bernie does. We’ve all seen the picture of him getting arrested at a civil rights march. Senator Sanders has been standing up for the most vulnerable among us as long as he has been in politics. The mantra that no American should be bankrupted by their medical payment, student loans, or lack of a living wage has been consistent throughout his entire career. On the first day of his campaign, he raised four times the amount of money that Kamala Harris did on her first day, with an average donation of $27. The base is still there, and Bernie is in the exact opposite position that he was in for the 2016 race. Now Bernie is the frontrunner, and it’s his race to lose. He has a diverse, incredibly competent campaign staff ready to bring him to the nomination. I truly believe that he can take the fight to Trump and win.

Elizabeth Warren: If something causes Bernie to drop out of the race between now and the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC), Elizabeth Warren is absolutely my pick. She has the best politics out of anyone else currently running not named Bernie Sanders. She has a distinguished history of fighting for progressive reform, and in some cases her record is even more substantial than Bernie’s. However, I have a pretty major problem with her — Trump has her number. You can’t look at the DNA test incident and believe that Warren could duke it out with Trump on a debate stage and defeat him. I really like Warren, but I just don’t think that she’ll be able to become president. I’d love to see her as Secretary of the Treasury in a Harris or Sanders administration because it seems to me that policy is where she truly shines.

Kamala Harris: Before Bernie announced his candidacy, Kamala Harris was the frontrunner for the Democrats. However, many progressives raised her record as the Attorney General of California as questionable. In one case, her office denied federal calls to empty California’s prisons, citing a need for cheap labor. Furthermore, Harris personally implemented a truancy policy to arrest the parents of truant children, a policy which disproportionately harmed low-income families. In addition, she advocated against gender reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, all of these incidents took place three to five years ago, and her opinions on criminal justice may have improved in that time, but her record in that arena will definitely be the biggest cause of contention on the primary trail. In terms of other issues, Harris supports Medicare-for-all, a $15 minimum wage, and most other boilerplate progressive policies. As of now, I’d say the race is really between her and Bernie. While her prosecuting record truly gives me pause, I would have no issue voting for her in a general election against Trump. Honestly, I think Harris is one of the few running currently who would be able to defeat him in a general election.

Kirsten Gillibrand: Gillibrand is a little high on my list, and her voting record in the House has a strong conservative streak to it. Yes, she comes off as an opportunist with her sudden switch to backing progressive policies when she got into the Senate. However, I genuinely admire the way she stood up to the machinery of the Democratic Party to call out Al Franken. Unfortunately, that leaves Gillibrand in a strange spot. Most progressives, including me, don’t trust her recent turn, and the more conservative establishment Democrats hate her for pushing Franken to resign. I appreciate her conviction to hold Franken accountable, but I just don’t think she has anything going for her that anyone in my top three doesn’t.

Beto O’Rourke: Beto! What are you doing, man? We all loved you in 2018, but we weren’t ready for this kind of relationship so fast. You were a fun fling, a young, skateboarding state rep to take a Senate seat from swamp monster and Count Chocula impersonator Ted Cruz. In all seriousness, while Beto is probably more “electable” than Warren or Gillibrand, he absolutely needs to stay in Texas, because Senator John Cornyn is up for re-election in 2020. Y’know, John Cornyn! The Republican senator who quoted Benito Mussolini, former fascist dictator of Italy, on Twitter the other day. Beto could mop the floor with this guy, but he’s most likely going to throw himself into a presidential race before he’s ready, and probably lose.

Cory Booker: Honestly, I feel a little bad for Cory Booker. At the 2016 DNC, he shocked the nation with a rousing speech. Most people in New Jersey didn’t even know he was their senator! But after that speech, everyone was saying Cory Booker’s name. What did he do with all of that momentum? Not much. While he’s signed on to all the right progressive bills, including Bernie’s Medicare-for-all plans and the Green New Deal, Booker’s stock has taken a bit of a dip in the last three years. He can’t seem to escape the guilt of comparatively high campaign donations from pharmaceutical companies. While Booker does have some supporters, he seems to have blended into the background. His website doesn’t even have any issue positions on it! It seems like a metaphor for what actually happened to Booker. After three years, a striking and inspirational figure has morphed into a muddled piece of the Democratic wallpaper.

Tulsi Gabbard: When you examine Tulsi Gabbard’s policies, you might be shocked to find her so low on my list. She supports free community college for all Americans, she doesn’t take PAC money, and she supports universal healthcare. However, a few of her policies are a little bit… strange. While she is opposed to U.S. regime change and is currently opposed to any kind of coup attempt in Venezuela, she’s also pro-Assad, the current dictator of Syria. Assad is very, very bad. She is also staggeringly, dizzyingly homophobic. She spent much of her younger years railing against civil unions, calling proponents of them “homosexual extremists.” While she’s cooled the public homophobia, she has admitted that she’s found that publicly opposing LGBT issues is futile. Gabbard may have a small, yet dedicated fanbase, but I’m not going to put my chips on her making it to the general election.

Julian Castro: Castro is another case of Democrats from Texas abandoning ship from a state that they can absolutely turn purple! Personally, I find it ridiculous. Castro has been saying all the right things, but once again, he strikes me as a complete and utter long shot.

Amy Klobuchar: I would maybe feel bad for Amy Klobuchar if her politics resonated with me in any way. However, nothing about Klobuchar really strikes me as impressive, but what I do know about Amy Klobuchar is that physically and verbally berating and abusing your staff is absolutely not cool. The fact that she hasn’t already dropped out of the race is pretty gross. Safe to say that she is not in favorable standing with me.

Joe Biden: Mark my words, Joe Biden will be the Jeb Bush of 2020. If anyone takes a glance into Biden’s real politics, you’ll realize he’s actually quite awful. Anyone remember the Crime Bill of 1994? The one where we got the famous Hillary Clinton “Super Predators” quote from? Joe Biden wrote that bill. More police officers, more prisons, harsher sentences for nonviolent offenses. Remember the Anita Hill trial? Before Christine Blasey Ford, Anita Hill had accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual assault. Joe Biden, then current Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, allowed its members to absolutely slander, insult, and generally rake Anita Hill over the coals in one of the most disgusting questionings in the history of the committee. Biden’s past is as dirty as they come. However, by becoming Vice President, he somehow managed to make all of that disappear. If Biden throws himself into the spotlight again, so will all of his baggage, and most likely still awful politics. Just stay retired Joe, it suits you.

Howard Schultz: No. No no no no no NO. Dear God, please, anyone but the coffee man. Howard Schultz running on a platform that basically amounts to “please be nice to billionaires” feels like someone reached deep into my nightmares and pulled out the worst candidate I could possibly imagine.