Democratic candidates are struggling to stand out
Hey! Is that Michael Bennet? Or is it Eric Swalwell?
Maybe it’s John Hickenlooper. No … no … it’s Tim Ryan.
And so it goes, being one of the many white, middle-aged straight men who are struggling to stand out in the most diverse Democratic presidential primary field in history. To some voters, this cadre of men all look sort of, well, the same.
Nearly two-dozen people are running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Among them are six women, five people of color and a gay man.
Then there are a dozen straight white men. While former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders are sitting atop the crowded field — revealing stark divides among the party faithful on policy — the rest are polling in the low single-digits, if they register at all.
One early state voter recently described that portion of the primary field — which includes former Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper and the state’s current U.S. Sen. Bennet — to The Denver Post as “the big guy blur.”
Much has been made about the role of identity in the expansive Democratic presidential nominating contest — whether it’s viewed as just another form of identity politics or a battle for the soul of the party. But the question about whom the party should nominate next year is especially salient as the two major political parties become more segregated along key fault lines of age, gender and race, with the Democratic tent home these days to more young and nonwhite voters, based on an analysis of Pew Research data by the authors of the 2018 book “Identity Crisis.”
A portion of the Democratic base sees the nomination of a female or nonwhite candidate as most likely to serve as an excellent foil to Republican President Donald Trump, who has electrified race and gender divides during his term. As the argument goes, one of these candidates would expand both the party’s appeal and its voter base.
Another faction of Democrats, however, sees a white man as potentially a safer bet to win back the so-called Obama-trump voters from the working class, especially in the Rust Belt and Midwest.
The debate is far from settled. “I think there is an unrecognized, pent-up demand among Democratic women to vote for a woman,” said Joan Jacobs, a New Hampshire Democratic activist. “I do think a lot of women want to vote for a woman.”
But the way John Clark, a South Carolina Democrat, sees it: “We have to do better than we did in 2016. And I don’t think moving further to the left is going to get us there. If the Democrats nominate someone like Sen. Bennet or the others that are like him, I think it’d be a slam dunk to beat Trump.”
A new challenge
Colorado’s two presidential candidates are seeking a way to break out of the crowd. For Hickenlooper and Bennet, their identities as white men — usually a privilege in the political context — are proving to be the sort of challenge they might not have faced in past cycles.
At times, especially for Hickenlooper, it’s been satirized. At others, it’s tripped him up.
When he was asked during a televised town hall if he would consider a woman for his running mate, instead of responding “yes,” he wondered why the media didn’t ask the women candidates whether they’d select a male running mate.
While his response was intended as a critique of the media’s obsession with male candidates, several viewers took umbrage and considered the response sexist.
The role of identity in politics is nothing new. Going back to the United States’ formation, individuals have organized themselves around cultural, racial and other traits. When the U.S. Constitution was written, leaders from small states clashed with representatives from large states. More industrial states battled it out with agrarian ones.
However, the 2008 Democratic primary and the general election that followed marked a new era in identity politics, said Marykate Lizotte, a political scientist at Augusta University in Georgia.
Since then, she said, “young voters are used to seeing someone who represents historically marginalized group members in power,” in the case of former President Barack Obama, or seeking it, in the case of Hillary Clinton.
That wider frame opens a new frontier for candidates such as U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. But this new reality poses challenges for others, such as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton.
To be sure, despite Clinton’s two historic runs for the White House, female major-party candidates still face systemic hurdles that make running for office more difficult.
“Some research suggests that voters tend to judge male candidates based on their potential, whereas female candidates tend to be judged on their experience,” said Erin Cassese, a political scientist at the University of Delaware, in an email.
Other candidates contend with identity
Nearly every leading Democratic candidate is addressing the issue of identity — whether it’s their own or that of the electorate — in a variety of ways.
Sanders, the runner-up to Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, has faced serious criticism for his lack of outreach to Africanamerican voters, long a key voting bloc in Democratic politics.
This cycle, he’s made outreach to communities of color an early priority and has diversified his campaign team. A Wall Street Journal analysis of senior campaign staffs found that Sanders’ campaign was one of the most diverse in terms of both ethnicity and gender.
And his campaign believes it is his policies — Medicare For All, tuition-free college and criminal justice reform — that hold the most potential benefit for historically oppressed communities.
“We are bringing together working people to build a historic grassroots movement to fundamentally transform American politics,” said Joe Calvello, a Sanders campaign spokesman. “When we are in the White House, we are going to implement bold policies that ensure that we have racial, economic, social and environmental justice for all.”
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris holds a distinctive position in the primary, as both a woman and a multiracial candidate (her father is black and her mother is Indian). While the potential appeal of those identities has drawn focus from pundits, Harris has attempted both to prioritize her record as a prosecutor and senator and to talk about her life experiences.
“Folks are looking for a champion, someone who understands where they are and where they want to go,” said Kirsten Allen, a spokeswoman for Harris. “And my boss has a history of doing that.”
While Mayor Pete Buttigieg is gay, representing another historically marginalized group, he has not been given a free pass as a white man, drawing skepticism from some voters who would prefer to support a woman or person of color.
Buttigieg’s campaign declined to comment for this story, instead referring to his answer at a televised town hall when a woman asked why she should vote for him rather than Harris or U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Buttigieg suggested his time as mayor of South Bend, Ind., has given him executive experience. But he added: “I have met a lot of women who say, ‘I like you, I like your message, I think you have got an appealing candidacy, but I just will not vote for a man this time.’ … I get it, and whether you decide to be for me or not, I promise that I will be for you.”
“There are a lot of strong opinions”
Before jumping into the race, Hickenlooper was asked a similar question on CNN.
“I think that the Democrats across the country are going to help decide that,” Hickenlooper said. “I’m not sure it’s clear what is exactly needed. But I do know there are a lot of strong opinions.”
Hickenlooper has highlighted the diversity of his cabinets as both Denver mayor and governor. Several of his top aides have been women.
Since announcing his run, Hickenlooper has made several trips to South Carolina — the earliest primary state with heavy participation from black voters — and has won the endorsement of the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance, an association of black churches. One of his first policy proposals called for criminal justice reform, an issue with cross-cutting appeal.
In the early days of Bennet’s month-old campaign, the senator has signaled that South Carolina would play an important role in his path toward the nomination. He spent several days there last week and announced key hires for his state operation, ahead of other early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
Winning support in South Carolina is seen as a crucial for any Democratic candidate who hopes to build a multiracial coalition. And it provides one of several testing-grounds for the candidacies of Hickenlooper and Bennet — and other Democrats who are part of the “guy blur” — in the 2020 race.
Carol Fowler, a former state party chairwoman, hosted Bennet at one of his recent stops. She said he impressed many of the 60 voters who stopped at her home to visit with the senator.
“Are all the white guys running together in people’s minds? I think that is an issue,” Fowler said. But after his visit, she predicted that Bennet would “stand out in their minds. It’s going to take that kind of work and time on the ground to become known.”