If the last few months are any indication of the future, then we are raring up for one of the most exciting presidential elections in the history of the United States. We are over a year out from the 2020 election season, specifically the Iowa caucus, but this hasn’t stopped the nine confirmed candidates, three exploratory committees, and several “it’s complicated” individuals from tossing their names into the hat.
To be clear, a majority of these people have announced their plans to run for the Democratic nomination, with the only Republican hopeful being former governor of Massachusetts William Weld.
I should also mention that President Donald Trump announced his plans for reelection moments after officially taking office back in 2016. The recent onslaught of Democratic candidates demonstrates just how intent Democrats are on reclaiming the throne in 2020. In a recent Monmouth University poll, when asked to choose between “a Democrat you agree with on most issues but would have a hard time beating Donald Trump,” or “a Democrat you do not agree with on most issues but would be a stronger candidate against Donald Trump,” Democrats preferred the latter by nearly 60%.
Perhaps the most shocking news surrounding the upcoming election is no longer the sheer amount Democrats gunning for the nomination, but that, as of Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders from Vermont announced that he’s going to take another crack at then White House, launching a second campaign after losing out to Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to early polling statistics, Sanders is a top contender among the other candidates who’ve announced their candidacy, including Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Cory Booker. Sanders is getting back on the horse once again, but this time, the odds are arguably in his favor.
When Sen. Sanders ran for the Democratic nomination back in 2016, the core tenets of his platform, universal healthcare and deceasing the wage gap, were seen as far too radical for the country at the time. In the years after his loss, Sanders has been training, getting stronger, and refining his platform to better cater it to an arguably more progressive nation.
After two years of the Trump administration, some Republican voters have come to regret their vote due to Trump’s alleged besmirching of the Republican Party. To be fair, his style is largely unorthodox. In an interview with MSNBC, Sen. Sanders announced his plans for running for president, saying that President Trump cannot be reelected. He referred to Trump as the “most dangerous president in modern day history.”
“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country. I think he is a pathological liar…I also think he is a racist, a sexist, a homophone, a xenophobe, somebody who is gaining cheap political points by trying to pick on minorities, often undocumented immigrants…”
–Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT)
Though the United States has recently warmed up to more liberal ideologies, this doesn’t necessarily mean Sen. Sanders will have an easier time running in the 2020 election. It’s clear that he’s a likable candidate and has the political acumen to back it up, but the fact of the matter is that he’s an older white gentleman. I say this because these two traits may hurt his chances of securing the nomination. His ideas and morals are spirited and energetic, but Sanders is 77 years old. Now, President Trump is no spring chicken, he’s 72, but Sanders’ caucasian pigment lets the air out his sails that were raised in affirmation of racial equality.
To put it simply, there are two Democratic nominee candidates that are persons of color, and for Bernie to campaign with the intention to remedy the racial inequities plaguing our nation is to insist that he is better fit for the position than those who grew up in oppressive spaces.
