Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the 2020 presidential race today. I’m having a hard time with it. As I’ve written about before, I don’t just think Warren was the best candidate in the 2020 election, I think she’s the best candidate of my lifetime. That, in and of itself, is pretty demoralizing, but I don’t think it’s the reason I’m having trouble processing it. I’ve known that it’s more than twice as hard for a woman to run for office and with the way Warren has been treated throughout the campaign, I can’t say I’m shocked. I’ve been trying to mentally prepare for this day for a while now. I think the reason this is so hard for me is because of the people that are left.
Those people are Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden (I guess, technically, Tulsi Gabbard, too, but she’s awfully problematic and she’s clearly not going to win, so I’ll just talk about the other two). This isn’t the first time my preferred candidate has lost the primaries. Just four years ago, I was a Martin O’Malley supporter. He was out before my state’s primary, so I went over to Hilary Clinton. I didn’t have any problem making the switch. While it’s true that I preferred O’Malley, I could find plenty of positive reasons to vote for Clinton. With Sanders and Biden, I’m at a complete loss. I know I’ll vote for one of them in November because one of them will be running against Trump, but deciding between them for the primary has me confused. When I look at the two of them, I only see negatives. That’s never happened to me before.
I’m going to think long and hard about my choice, although there’s a decent chance the race will be decided by the time I get to vote in the primary. That would make my life a little easier, but it still won’t be satisfactory. I don’t know what I’m going to do. In the mean time, I’ll mourn the Warren campaign and dream about her becoming the next Senate Majority Leader (It doesn’t seem likely with Chuck Schumer there, but it would be pretty great if it happened).
I know Warren wouldn’t want me to give up hope. She said in the email she sent out to supporters that she wants us to keep fighting, to keep her movement alive. I want to do that, but, right now, I don’t know how. I feel like Obi-Wan when Luke leaves Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back. If anyone does know what I can do, I’m open to suggestions. Please let me know.
