On Saturday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) expressed concern that Iowa voters prefer three white guys for the 2020 Democratic nomination according to the latest CNN poll. Former vice president Joe Biden led the poll with 30 percent, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 14 percent and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) at 9 percent. Gillibrand took a measly 1 percent.
“I did notice in that poll that the top three were Biden, Bernie, and Beto,” CNN’s Van Jones noted. “Three Bs, and all white guys. In a party as diverse as ours, does it worry you to see the top three being white guys?”
Gillibrand simply responded, “Yes.” Rather than pressing her on her own meager poll results, Van Jones simply asked her why.
“I just … I aspire for our country to recognize the beauty of our diversity at some point in the future,” the senator said, uttering more boring Democratic pablum.
“And I hope someday we have a woman president,” Gillibrand — who has absolutely no interest in pushing for a woman president — said. She then went on to discuss the political support of racial minorities.
“I love the fact that Barack Obama was our president for eight years. I hope more people of color not only aspire and win the presidency,” the senator said. “Because that’s what makes America so extraordinary, we are all of that, we are everything, and I think a more inclusive America is a stronger America.”
It sounds like Gillibrand is testing the political talking points of Hillary Clinton 2.0.
Ironically, Democrats’ best hope of defeating Trump may be the Biden or Bernie strategy — appealing to the white working class. This might undo the midwest strategy that won Donald Trump the presidency in 2016.
Yet Van Jones and Gillibrand did express a mainstream Democratic concern that could drive the party to nominate a candidate like Clinton or a weak minority candidate like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Who knows? Maybe the entire Democratic Party is Spartacus.
Racial minorities and women might be able to energize the Democratic base, and there may be a perfect candidate out there that can galvanize midwestern white working class voters and minority voters the same way Barack Obama did, but as of now it does seem one of the three Bs might be Democrats’ best chance against Trump in 2020.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member