The WeLead Reader
August 17, 2019

Abrams Decides: After months of speculation, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams announced Tuesday that she will not run for president in 2020. Instead, she will focus on her efforts to combat voter suppression through the organization that she formed after her 2018 run, Fair Fight Action. Abrams’ work in this arena prompts Vogue to ask, in a profile of Abrams, “Can Stacey Abrams Save American Democracy?”

In an op-ed for the New York Times, political scientist Melanye Price argues that Abrams’ fight against voter suppression “will have even more of an impact than a presidential run” and “could reshape the electoral landscape so it resembles the years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when new constituencies were created and a new political leadership class emerged.”

This decision doesn’t necessarily mean Abrams is staying out of presidential politics completely: she said in an interview  with the New York Times that she would be open to serving as a running mate to “any nominee” in the 2020 Democratic field.

“Every mayor wants something good to happen out of something bad”: In the aftermath of the mass shooting in her city earlier this month, Dayton, Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley (D) was thrust into the national spotlight. This profile, from the New Yorker’s Paige Williams, delves into what happened the night of the shooting, as well as how Whaley has navigated her newfound notoriety, the politics of gun control as a Democrat governing in a red state, and the unwanted visit of a president that she “neither likes nor respects.” Whaley says she elected to receive President Trump out of respect for the office of the president and because she wanted to urge him to reconsider a ban on assault weapons. New Yorker

Whaley’s leadership also inspired Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin to name her “distinguished pol of the week,” noting that she “struck just the right tone—calm, commanding, empathetic, and determined.” Washington Post

“‘Sentries, Not ‘Squad’”: Taking a vastly different approach than the so-called “Squad,” a group of moderate Democrats are the individuals to watch for 2020, according to AP’s Laurie Kellman. The “alterna-Squad” consists of Reps. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Elaine Luria (D-VA). The women have “deep military and intelligence experience,” which translates into a more measured approach to lawmaking than their hypervocal, far-left counterparts.  Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), who chairs the Democrats’ campaign arm, said when they speak, “people listen.” Associated Press

‘It’s not just men’: White conservative women have supported recent anti-abortion legislation in several states, contrary to the narrative that men have spearheaded the changes. From co-sponsoring bills to votes of passage, white conservative women in power are using their roles to effectively achieve their policy goals around the abortion issue. NBC News

“I’ll take a new approach, one that’s open, that puts your needs first — your health care, your wages, your family.”: State Auditor Nicole Galloway, 37, launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor in Missouri. Saying she will “ditch the ‘old way,’” Galloway’s campaign kickoff and announcement video have focused on the role of dark money in politics, particularly in relation to the incumbent, Gov. Mark Parson (R). In her 2018 election to Auditor (making her the only Democrat holding statewide office in Missouri), Galloway won nine counties that had voted for Trump in 2016. Former Gov. Jay Nixon (D) alluded to her bipartisan appeal by highlighting her “intelligence, integrity, energy, and mainstream common sense values throughout her career.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

Trayvon Martin’s Mom Takes on Miami-Dade: Sybrina Fulton, known for anti-gun violence advocacy following the death of her son Trayvon Martin, is running for Miami-Dade County Commissioner. Fulton says “I had no clue that I would ever be running for office, but sometimes when you get fed up with things you’re like, ‘OK, I just got to do it myself.’” Speaking with Elle’s Ericka Claudio, Fulton takes readers into leadup to her announcement and her plan to win. Elle

Highlighting Identity in Virginia: In Virginia’s House of Delegate’s 13th district, current Delegate Danica Roem (D) is running against Kelly McGinn (R), a former lawyer and congressional staffer for conservative former Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. Roem’s status as the first openly transgender person in the Virginia General Assembly is a stark contrast to McGinn’s vocal anti-LGBTQ background. The election is attracting national attention, and cash, because of the salience of LGBTQ issues in the election. Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Inside NoVa

Not a Game Anymore: The New York Times op-ed section takes a deep dive into Gamergate, a 2014 controversy centered on harassment and sexism in video game culture.  Brianna Wu, software engineer and Democratic congressional candidate for Massachusetts’ 8th district, writes about being one of the women #GamerGate trolls harassed with death threats and rape threats when she was the head of Giant Spacekat, a game studio. “I waited for law enforcement to prosecute the men who had threatened to murder me and other women. I met with the FBI, with the White House and with members of Congress. I waited for justice. I am still waiting. .... Gamergate gave birth to a new kind of celebrity troll, men who made money and built their careers by destroying women's reputations ... I decided to run for the House of Representatives to give law enforcement the resources to prosecute online extremism. ” New York Times

Passing the Torch: Progressive PAC Latino Victory, which aims to elect Latinos up and down the ballot, has new leadership. Current interim president Melissa Mark-Viverito is stepping aside to run for Congress in New York’s 15th district, and the organization announced that Mayra Macías will take the reins as executive director, a newly created position. Before joining Latino Victory in 2017, Macías was Hispanic outreach director and political director for the Florida Democratic Party, and a field organizer for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign. POLITICO

Something Besides the State Fair: Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) appointed Elizabeth Johnson to serve as the executive director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, which is in charge of effectively enforcing the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Johnson is subject to confirmation by the Iowa Senate. Associated Press

“The conversation about religion and politics has been dominated by one particular type of religion...It can be so much more.”: Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign has brought on Rev. Shawna Foster as faith outreach coordinator. The Buttigieg campaign is the first among the 2020 field to hire for this position. Foster said: “I want to make sure the campaign is really reaching out to faiths that typically haven’t had much say in politics — Native American spirituality, Sikh spirituality, Bahais.” Foster is a Unitarian Universalist minister. Washington Post

Texas Turning Purple?: As the demographics of the Lone Star State continue to change over time, many Republicans now worry about the strength—and future—of their party in a state that was once deep red. Suburban Republican women, in particular, feel “alienated, not energized” by a party that has embraced President Trump. LA Times political reporter Melanie Mason considers the extent to which the situation in Texas reflects the Republican Party as a whole. Los Angeles Times

Political Power of Women of Color From the Ground Up: Taeku Lee and EunSook Lee write for the New York Times their analysis of President Trump’s poor treatment of women of color, attributing his racist rhetoric to a deep-seated fear of their power in elections. Noting the electoral sway of African American women’s votes and the impact of groups like Asian American Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the women argue the GOP and its members are fearful of the rising political influence in minority groups. New York Times

“We are a constituency.”: Despite its role in the forefront of politics and pop culture for the past two years, the Me Too movement is missing as a priority in the 2020 election. Some voters express a discontent with the absence, saying it represents an overall lack of support for making “women’s issues” a policy priority. However, Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign has put gender equality at the forefront of her messaging and she is trailing nearly all of the candidates in recent polls. The frontrunner, former vice president Joe Biden, has been accused by multiple women of inappropriate relations, yet maintains his lead. Washington Post

“It’s Time to Restore The Vote and End Voter Suppression”: Following the 54th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Nancy Abudu, Director of Legal Operations at the ACLU of Florida, scrutinizes the current American voting system by contending that many low-income people of color are still disenfranchised today. Abudu criticizes elements which effectively bar citizens from voting, such as poll taxes and felony convictions, in this op-ed. Essence

“Keep marching, keep protesting, keep calling.”: Helaine Olen, opinion contributor for the Washington Post, writes about what she sees as a disconnect: “women have been the vanguard of opposition to President Trump,” yet, according to a new poll commissioned by All In Together, “too many people who say they would like to see Trump lose in 2020 also believe a male Democrat would be more likely to defeat the president.” To illustrate that “bias deficit” that women candidates face, Olen cites the disproportionate backlash women receive for their minor “gaffes” and the continued support for former vice president Joe Biden despite a list of public and private missteps. Washington Post

Man or Woman, The Race Will Be Brutal: Given President Trump’s style of campaigning, gender will be an issue for men as well as women in the 2020 election. His “tough-guy masculinity” and combative debate style will be difficult for any Democrat to fight against. FiveThirtyEight cites Jackson Katz, a prominent masculinity researcher, in their analysis that presidential politics can be a competition to be the “manliest” of the competitors. Similarly, they point to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 candidacy sparking “anxieties among men about their masculinity and waning male power.” The two lanes intersect in the conversation of 2020’s gender dynamics: An effeminate or liberal man may rile the same response as in 2016, propelling Trump’s supporters to rally at the polls. FiveThirtyEight

➤➤Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand visited Lake Placid, New York on Wednesday to celebrate her husband’s birthday. While there, she attended a meet-and-greet at Lake Placid Golf Club and mingled with local officials.

GIllibrand, who “has made defending women’s rights the bedrock of her presidential bid,” will be in St. Louis tomorrow, where she will hold a town hall on reproductive rights. St. Louis is home to Missouri’s only remaining abortion clinic. 

She appears on ABC's "This Week" this morning and will participate in the Washington Post Live's 2020 Candidate Series on Monday where she'll be interviewed by Robert Costa.

News & Analysis

• Gillibrand Suggests Support for Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons POLITICO
• Gillibrand Pledges to Direct Justice Department to “Infiltrate” White Supremacist Groups CBS News
• Gillibrand’s Climate Plan Ignores Cities City & State New York
• Kirsten Gillibrand: Iowa Needs Governor Who Will Stand Up for Gun Control Des Moines Register

➤➤Kamala Harris

In an effort to increase her profile in Iowa, Kamala Harris took advantage of the Senate recess and embarked on a five-day bus trip across the state. In an interview with the Associated Press, Harris talked about the people she met and the importance of spending time in Iowa, a state she says “has made [her] a better candidate.” More on Harris’ bus tour from New York Times, Des Moines Register, USA Today, NPR, and Bloomberg. 

While her recent focus has been on Iowa, Harris scooped up a handful of endorsements in Colorado after a recent trip to Denver, including State Reps. Leslie Hood and Serena Gonzalez-Gutierrez. 

Harris is heading home to California this week. On Tuesday, she will attend a Hollywood fundraiser co-hosted by screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. On Thursday, she has one reception in Culver City and another hosted by MGM president Jon Glickman. 

Looking ahead to next weekend, Harris will be the keynote speaker at the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People’s Founder’s Day Banquet on Saturday night. 

News & Analysis

• Kamala Harris Sending Trump ‘Back to His Corner’—That’s a Debate Many Iowa Democrats Want to See Los Angeles Times
• Kamala Harris Proposes Taking on Domestic Terrorism by Limiting Gun Access CNN
• Why Is Kamala Harris Struggling With Black Voters So Much? New York Magazine
• Kamala Harris Has Missed Plenty of Votes While Campaigning. She’s Not Alone. San Francisco Chronicle
• Harris’ Silence on Diverted Funds Rankles Housing Advocates RealClearPolitics
• Kamala Harris: Congress Would Get 100 Days to Act on Guns Before She Would Issue Executive Order Des Moines Register
• Kamala Harris: Donald Trump’s Baltimore Attacks ‘Disrespectful,’ Show Lack of Presidential Responsibility Baltimore Sun

Opinions & Columns

• Editorial Board: Attorney Kamala Harris Makes Case For Presidency Des Moines Register
• Jennifer Rubin: Kamala Harris Is Right. We Need to Reconsider What a National Security Risk Is. Washington Post

➤➤Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar picked up an endorsement this week from Swati Dandekar, a former Iowa lawmaker who was the first Indian-born female legislator in the US. She was also Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank during the Obama administration. In her endorsement, Dandekar said: “Unlike our current president, Amy respects immigrants and has worked to ensure our country’s immigration policies are compassionate. Amy is a strong woman and she’ll be an even stronger president.”

On Thursday, Klobuchar held a press conference on gun violence and bridging the urban-rural divide in Little Rock, Arkansas. Klobuchar also attended a fundraiser and meet-and-greet Thursday evening hosted by former Clinton COS Mack McLarty and former Sens. Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln. Interestingly the article contains an update noting: “the event is done in the name of friendliness, not necessarily as a direct endorsement.”

Kloubchar will make a four-stop swing through New Hampshire tomorrow. 

News & Analysis

• On Judicial Nominations, Klobuchar’s Bipartisan Votes Put Her Out of Step With the Democratic Field MinnPost
• Amy Klobuchar Has Been the Most Productive 2020 Candidate in Congress Axios
• Amy Klobuchar Wants to Wield the White House to Save Net Neutrality Daily Dot
• Amy Klobuchar Tells Soapbox Attendees She Courts Moderates With Ideas That ‘Could Actually Get Done’ Des Moines Register

➤➤Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren spent time in New Hampshire this week, with events in Franconia and Wolfeboro on Wednesday. 

This weekend, she is in Georgia and South Carolina. Today, she will speak at Black Church PAC’s Candidate Lunch Forum in Atlanta and hold a town hall in Aiken, South Carolina. Tomorrow, she will attend a service at Reid Chapel AME Church in Columbia. On Monday, Warren will host a town hall at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A recent poll from Change Research shows Warren with an 11-point lead in Iowa, but several outlets have called the survey’s methodology into question (Rolling Stone, National Review).

News & Analysis

• Many Democrats Love Elizabeth Warren. They Also Worry About Her. New York Times
• The One Thing Elizabeth Warren Needs to Do to Win POLITICO Magazine
• With Liberal Agenda, Warren Seeks to Win Over Moderates Boston Globe
• Elizabeth Warren Took on Obama Over Student Debt Forgiveness. How She Won Is Central to Her 2020 Campaign BuzzFeed News
• Elizabeth Warren Suggests She’d Repeal ’94 Crime Bill Daily Beast
• The Weak Defenses of Elizabeth Warren’s Trade Plan Washington Post
• Elizabeth Warren Gets Personal on the Trail NPR
• Warren Wows in Iowa as Candidates’ Sprint to Caucuses Begins Associated Press
• Elizabeth Warren’s New Plan on Guns Has a Goal: Reduce Gun Deaths by 80% NPR

Opinions & Columns

• Becket Adams: Elizabeth Warren’s Gun Control Plan Either Is Terrifically Stupid or Terribly Cynical Washington Examiner

➤➤Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard is taking a two-week campaign hiatus to fulfill Army National Guard training obligations in Indonesia. She will return to the campaign trail on August 25. 

➤➤Marianne Williamson

On Tuesday, Marianne Williamson appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, where Meyers pressed her about “the most controversial aspect” of her record: her views on vaccines. Watch clips of the interview here and here. 

Wednesday she opened a town hall in Oakland by saying, “There’s no place I’d rather be than California. I feel understood here.”

News & Analysis 

• Marianne Williamson Wants Presidential Politics to Enter the New Age New Yorker
• Marianne Williamson Isn’t Kooky, She’s Just Religious The Outline
• Marianne Williamson Shares Her Thoughts on Memes, Goop, and Mar-a-Lago Interview Magazine
• Live at The Wing: Marianne Williamson and White Women’s Rage GQ
• Marianne Williamson: You Can't Just Assume Democracy Is Okay Because It Was Okay Decades Ago RealClearPolitics
• Marianne Williamson Goes for the Gut The Atlantic
• Can Self-Help Heal the Body Politic? The Atlantic

Opinions & Columns

• Kayla Bartsch: Marianne Williamson Offers Priestly Wisdom for a Nation Adrift—Seriously National Review

Strategies for Parity: Recently, Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said she does not believe she will see gender parity in Congress in her lifetime, and most experts seem to agree with her assessment. With this in mind, Vox’s Li Zhou examines strategies that could be used to bring about greater gender equality in the legislative branch. She writes: “Achieving gender parity in Congress isn’t just a matter of international pride or identity politics. A more representative government, as research has repeatedly shown, has real effects on improving the lives of women.” The methods she highlights, which have been used successfully in other countries to lower barriers for women, include (1) using a quota system, (2) increasing public financing for campaigns, and (3) employing ranked-choice voting rather than the current first-past-the-post system. Vox

Environmental Benefits of Women in Congress: When Women Lead, a new report from Rachel’s Action Network, a non-profit that focuses on women and environmental issues, “finds that women legislators are far more likely to vote in favor of legislation that protects or preserves the environment.” This conclusion is based on an analysis of scores from the League of Conservation Voters for members of Congress from 2006-2018. Over that time women in the Senate got an average score of 71 (out of 100) from the LCV, while their male counterparts averaged 46. In the House, the average score was 70 for women and 43 for men. These findings suggest that increasing the number of women serving in Congress may have a profound effect on shaping environmental policy. Women’s Media Center

Women, Guns, and Political Engagement: Political scientist Alexandra Middlewood (Wichita State University), along with Mark R. Joslyn and Donald P. Haider-Markel (University of Kansas), examines whether gun ownership among women is a determining factor in their political participation. Using 2013 data from Pew Research Center, they find that “gun‐owning women exhibit levels of political participation about gun policy and a greater willingness to engage in political discussions about gun control” than women who do not own guns. Women who own guns also show greater political engagement in areas not related to gun policy. This means that debates around gun policy in particular “may be disproportionately shaped by gun-owning women.” Social Science Quarterly

Intersectionality in Candidate Evaluation: There is already research on how voters evaluate women candidates, as well as how they evaluate black men. But what happens when the candidate is a black woman? Noting this gap in the research, Danielle Casarez Lemi (Michigan State University) and Nadia E. Brown (Purdue University) “study Black women candidates and draw on research on colorism and Black women's hairstyles and ask: How does variation in skin tone and hairstyle affect Black voter evaluations of Black women candidates?” They find that “the interaction of dark skin and non-straight hair” in women candidates has mostly negative effects on candidate evaluation, but may make black women specifically more likely to vote for a  candidate. When studying the effects of a candidate’s appearance on voter behavior, they conclude, it is important to take the intersection between race and gender into account. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

‘The Urgency of Gun Control and Trump’s Immigration Cruelty’: On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah interviews Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) about President Trump, America's gun violence epidemic and the immigration situation at the border. Comedy Central

‘AOC Calls BS’: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is featured on this week’s episode of “Pod Save America.” With host Jon Lovett, Ocasio-Cortez dives into immigration, race, the Green New Deal, and Democratic messaging. Pod Save America

Meeting a Middleground Moderate: Freshman Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) appears on  NYT's “The Daily” podcast.  As a member of the moderate faction of House Democrats, she offers her perspective on the future of the party. New York Times

‘Under the Gun’: Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco, hosts of Crooked’s “Hysteria” podcast, discuss gun reform with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demands Action.  Hysteria

‘Gender Inequality in Leadership is Solvable’: Malcolm Gladwell talks to Julia Gillard, the first and only woman to be Prime Minister of Australia, about the underrepresentation of women in leadership around the world in this week’s “Solvable” podcast. Solvable

Sunday Shows:
Stacey Abrams and Kirsten Gillibrand on ABC's "This Week."

A Likely Topic: In the wake of "a lot of talk recently in the political arena about the likability trap for women,"  Joan C. Williams, a professor of law and co-author of "What Works for Women at Work" writes a NYT op-ed on "How Women Can Escape the Likability Trap."  She says successful women know how to flip stereotypes to their advantage. New York Times

Artistic License: To commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the Baltimore Museum of Art has dedicated an entire year of exhibitions to female-identifying artists throughout the course of 2020. The initiative, called 2020 Vision, is the museum’s latest attempt to “acknowledge the ways in which women’s contributions still do not receive the scholarly examination, dialogue, and public acclaim that they deserve.” Artnet News

Moving Mountains: Rebecca Schuman of Slate explores the trajectory of Simone Biles, recounting the way in which the Olympic athlete has entirely altered the landscape of female gymnastics. From changing how other gymnasts approach the floor exercise to influencing the way that Olympians act in front of cameras, Schuman argues that Biles has revolutionized the sport forever. Slate

Moms Go to Work...But Should They?: For NYT’s The Upshot, Claire Cain Miller delves into a “disconnect between ideals and reality” about working parents that she argues is key to why the United States has resisted the idea of universal public child care in the past. Even with child care becoming an issue in the 2020 campaign, she asserts that Americans are actually wrestling with a more basic question: whether women should work in the first place. New York Times

“Feminism offers a life of significance.”: Feminist writer, teacher, and activist Ann Snitow passed away last Saturday at the age of 76. Snitow said that, originally, feminism for her was about “feeling powerful, feeling alive, feeling in possession of my own life,” but over time, she came to see her work as part of a movement greater than herself. New York Times

More Than A TV Show: Popular Hulu show The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts “a dystopian theocracy that uses fertile women as commodities for child-bearing,” has sparked plenty of political discussion in the real world, as it sometimes seems to overlap with current events involving women’s rights. The show, which premiered in April 2017, “appears to be riding the political wave and, sometimes, becoming part of it.” USA Today

Gender Inequality Persists in Japan: In 2018, the Japanese Diet (legislative body) passed the Gender Parity Law in an effort to address the fact that only 9.5% of its lower house’s members were women. The law recommends, but does not require, that parties field equal number of male and female candidates. However, the goal of gender parity remains elusive in part because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party, the LDP, “has failed to comply with the quotas it has ostensibly supported.” Foreign Affairs

Gender on the Ballot  is a nonpartisan project, created by the The Barbara Lee Family Foundation and American University's Women & Politics Institute, to examine and contextualize gender dynamics in the 2020 election cycle.

New this week from GOTB:

• Media Round Up: Week of August 11th The GOTB team highlights its favorite gender + politics stories from the past week.
• Men Who Lost–and Then Won–Presidential Elections Amid all the conversation about electability and gender, the GOTB team notes that, historically, voters have been more than willing to elect men who have lost elections previously, including Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and George H. W. Bush. 
• Equal Pay: From Soccer Stadiums to the Debate Stage The gender pay gap has been a hot topic in the sports world recently, but the conversation shouldn’t stop there, says the GOTB team. This blog post looks back at the June and July debates and how equal pay for women was—or wasn’t—discussed.  
• Coming up next week:  WPI’s founder Dr. Karen O’Connor’s post “Watch out for Abortion….the sleeper issue of the 2020 election cycle”