Potential 2020 Candidates Shake Things Up

      With the bringing in of the new year, 2020 is only right around the corner. Not only that, but 2020 is going to be a monumental year in politics where various Democrats throughout the country will throw their hat into the presidential race. Although it is only the beginning of 2019, many Democratic nominees have announced their intent to run in the future race. Although there are several candidates that are well-known, there are many candidates who are not as known that make for a strong potential Democratic nominee line up.

      One well known liberal candidate is Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. She announced her intent to run for president on New Years Eve, sending a shockwave through political communities. Warren is known for criticizing Wall Street and corporations. She is well-known among progressive activists, and intends to spread a message of how there is a rigged economic system and income inequality in her 2020 campaign. However, there is some debate on whether or not Warren will struggle with uniting different generations of Democrats.

      Another candidate is former retired Army Major Richard Ojeda who served as the West Virginia State Senator for the 7th district from 2016 until his resignation in January 2019. As a member of the Democratic Party, he is running a campaign for a potential presidential bid. He believes that the Democratic party has distanced themselves from the working class people by supporting special interest groups and big money donors. This may sound promising as a candidate, however, many people still hold against him the fact that he voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, which seems to conflict with a lot of his messaging.

      There is also John Delaney and Andrew Yang, both of which who have experiences in business. Delaney is known as former Maryland Congressman as well as multimillionaire banking entrepreneur. He wants the Democratic party to be able to appeal to Independents and moderate Republicans. Yang has a history as a tech executive, and is centering his campaign on automation. His central plan is for every American adult to receive a salary of up to $1,000 a month paid for by a tax on companies who benefit from automation. He wants to be able to establish some kind of universal income for all adult Americans.

      There are also more diverse candidates for the 2020 election including Julián Castro and Tulsi Gabbard. Castro, a former housing and urban development secretary, positions himself strongly against Trump’s immigration policies. He is a grandson of a Mexican immigrant and was raised by a single mother. He is also considered to be one of the most prominent Latinos in politics, and he has become a rising star in the Democratic party after a moving DNC speech in 2012.

      On the other hand, Gabbard is a Hawaiian congresswoman and Iraq War veteran who wants to focus her campaign on issues of war and peace. She also made history as the first Hindu to be elected to Congress, as well as the first Samoan American. Despite this, she has drawn criticism for meeting with Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad. Some are hesitant to support her due to her past Conservative views, particularly when it comes to social issues.

      There is also the senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand is a New York senator who lead efforts in congress to change the normalization for sexual assault in the military and on college campuses. She is also a former corporate lawyer and has embraced progressive economic policy. However, she faced some criticism for calling Al Franken to resign for groping allegations.

      In addition, there is senator Kamala Harris, who announced her bid for the presidency on Martin Luther King Day. Harris is also a groundbreaking prosecutor who became the second Black woman to serve in the United States senate. As for the issues, she supports Medicare for all as well as the legalization of recreational marijuana and disavows corporate money. However, she has faced some criticism for the increase of the prison population in California during her time in public office.

      Sources: Wikipedia, The Guardian, The New York Times