The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW PAC) thanks Senator Elizabeth Warren for her historic campaign and calls on the remaining candidates to take a lesson from her on how to govern and champion issues important to voters.
NOW PAC endorsed Warren based on her commitment to NOW's core issues, but also because she exhibits other critical presidential qualities that lacked coverage in the media and debates.
"Yes, Warren had the best policies," said NOW PAC Chairwoman Toni Van Pelt. "But Warren also had the best judgment, had the best constituency outreach, hired the best people, and evolved her campaign based on feedback from those most affected by her policies."
Unfortunately, the media and debates never gave voters information on how the candidates' records and plans directly impacted women – especially women of color. NOW PAC has called out the fact that debate questions and media coverage frame issues in the form of questions like "How are you the best candidate to pass gun control reforms?" This allows candidates to pivot to electability – an inherently racist and sexist concept when this country has elected 43 white presidents, one black president, and zero women.
With no viable women or non-white candidates left, it is imperative that the remaining candidates do better to intentionally discuss campaign issues with a gender and racial lens that they personally do not possess.
"They need to take a lesson from Warren's campaign," Van Pelt said. "She listened to constituencies she was not a part of, took their criticism seriously without being defensive, changed her policies, and analyzed every policy with multiple lenses: race, gender, class, immigration status, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
NOW PAC also calls on media outlets covering the election to re-evaluate how they cover the remaining candidates and the General Election. Our #AskThemMore campaign at nowpac.org/ask-them-more has 12 questions that campaigns can start talking about, debate moderators can start asking and the media can start writing stories about.
NOW PAC has not made any decisions about endorsing another presidential candidate but has already endorsed more than 100 feminist Senate and House candidates. See the full list at nowpac.org/federal2020.
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ABOUT NOW PAC
Since 1977, the National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW PAC) has worked to elect more uncompromising feminists to the White House and Congress. NOW PAC's aggressive grassroots organizing and early support for feminist candidates have been changing the faces of those elected to federal office. NOW PAC only raises money from NOW members, so our political work is 100% grassroots.
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