A New Era of Liberal Women Has Arrived in Politics

The Millennial and Gen Z liberal women are the new sheriffs in Politics Town; these women are typically college-educated, concerned with social justice issues, more economically stable than ever before in their lives, and they dislike the Democratic Party nearly as much as the GOP. Diehard Democratic Party loyalists beware: the loyal Democratic women’s vote may not be as dependable as it used to be.

The 2017 Women’s March was a worldwide phenomenon that gathered the post-election rage of up to 4.6 million American marchers through the streets of America and is widely considered to be the largest worldwide protest in human history. However, those women weren’t all marching for the Democratic Party; many were marching against Donald Trump’s election. This is a key difference in how liberal female voters feel about American politics today and where it could drive them tomorrow.

Betty Kingston*, a marketing professional in Bel Air, MD, has serious doubts about the Democratic Party’s ability to represent her, “[Four years ago] I had to solidly put myself in the Democratic category because of the hypocrisy and the blind-eye turning of the Republican party to the monstrosity of the Cult of Trump. I’m saddened that the past two presidential elections have come down to me voting, not necessarily for the person I was excited about, but for the person that was not Donald Trump... I’m hoping that the Democratic Party can come up with a cohesive message we can be excited about moving forward.”

Elizabeth*, an in-home daycare provider with a site Temecula, CA, and a No party Preference voter, has some strong feelings about why she will not join the GOP, despite her disappointment with the Democratic party, “As an early childhood educator, I've always taught children certain virtues: help people, use your words to tell people how you feel, but be kind. Do not use your hands and words to hurt people. I expect adults to behave the same way. Republicans don't do that, even the…Republicans that I'm still friends with.”

This isn’t a champagne cork moment for Democrats, however. Though the majority of American women of any race find a home in the Democratic Party, that affiliation may be changing. Donald Trump’s election galvanized many female voters who had never before voted or participated in the electoral process. Almost four years later, that interest hasn’t faded but disillusionment with the American system of elections and government has grown as these learn more about the American political system firsthand and are disgusted with its workings. The rise of the No Party Preference voter in California illustrates this trend; NPP voters now outnumber registered Republican voters in the state. A recent Medium article summed up the NPP trend by recapping, “…for every new [registered] Democrat, five Californians went independent…” from May to October 2018. In the nation’s largest “liberal” state and with 55 electoral votes up for grabs every four years, this revelation should have the California Democratic Party’s head spinning, yet there seems to be no organized Party effort to woo back NPP voters who have defected.

Laurel Lamont, a Temecula, CA resident and affordable housing advocate, laments, “I’m NPP because my voice is only valuable for my vote, I don’t matter, dems and Republicans are the same ego driven corporate machines. They label themselves with shiny talking points but produce NOTHING. I vote Democratic but I detest most of who represents me, and not one has ever bothered to reach back to me and actually share a dialogue, because our political representatives do not get involved. They act like celebrities with managers. It has been my direct experience that any candidate actually running has no time to genuinely listen to what their constituents need….whether I vote or whether I don’t, I’m only good enough for my vote but not your time.”

Millennial and Gen Z liberal women, at a high point in personal confidence, are repulsed by the misogynist and antiquated views of the GOP and wouldn’t support the Trump-nominated conservative Catholic Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett is a member of People of Praise, an “authoritarian” group that allows the organization’s “heads” and “handmaids” to control members’ life decisions. However, she weighs equal unpleasantness within the Democratic Party. For example, distaste with the Democratic system of Superdelegates is rising within the Party. However, the Democratic party opted to reform the Superdelegate system this year rather than abolish it. New era liberal women do not want to choose the “lesser of two evils”; they want to believe they are part of something that is inherently better representative of their needs and concerns.

Alexandra Kolar, owner of the Temecula, CA-based printing company Press & Ink, is disgusted by how out-of-step with the average American voter the Democratic Party has become in recent years, “They [the Democratic Party] have no idea who this generation of voters are. They don’t represent our issues and the country is falling apart around us. We can’t sustain ourselves in the current economic trajectory. It’s a constant blame game. Politics have lost their essence. It should be about helping the American family. [Instead] it’s about gaining votes. As a woman, as a mother, as a wife, as a business owner, I don’t need pretty talking boxes, I need action for myself and my children’s future.”

Other liberal women find themselves without a supportive space to engage politically because there exists insidious and entrenched misogyny from the very people who claim to support women’s rights: progressive men. Despite their purported support for gender equality, Democratic and progressive men on the left are susceptible to the same microaggressions or paternalistic attitudes toward women perpetrated by conservative misogynists. This leaves many liberal female voters, wise to misogyny, feeling that the Democratic Party is just “business as usual” in the gender equality department.

First-hand experience in activism and organizing since the 2016 election has also served to disillusion liberal female voters. Experiencing the sluggish cogs of bureaucracy or the insider world of political backstabbing can send these newly activated women packing- and into the arms of growing issue-based groups such as Moms Demand Action for Gunsense in America and professional networking organizations, which are without similar institutional issues and are welcoming of these women's professional talents and impressive financial support.

Vanessa Castro-Scott, a staunch Bernie Sanders supporter in the 2020 primary election, is a member of the Inland Empire Democratic Socialists of American and Riverside County Democratic Central Committee. She chafes at the Democratic Party’s inability to deliver what she views as concrete political change, “The inaction of our Democratic leaders is beyond disappointing. I do not care for theatrics, ripping Trump’s speech or a sassy hand clap. Their failure to put forth policies & take bold action against the Republicans blatant attack on our democracy only leads me to believe that they are on the side of corruption NOT the American people.”

Adding more salt to the wound, in the crowded field of Democratic presidential primary candidates this year, in which the highest number of women ran or attempted to run for President in the history of the country, the Democratic Party eventually ended up nominating a septuagenarian white male. This was a huge turnoff for women around the country, who now feel undercut and stuck between a rock and a hard place in choosing who will be best represent their issues and concerns on things like reproductive choice and abortion, LGBTQIA+ marriage, gun control in schools, the gender pay gap, and sexual and gender discrimination in the society.

There are many issues facing Millennial and Gen Z women in their political future. New era liberal women are now an active and engaged portion of the electorate and their influence is growing; they have time to volunteer for political campaigns, money to donate, a comprehensive formal education unlike any previous generation of women to contribute to policy debates, and vast networks of like-minded friends who want to make a difference for themselves and their children. However, more and more of them are finding themselves politically homeless and cut off from the top two parties in more ways than one. The GOP does not, and probably will not, ever appeal to the up-and-coming liberal woman, but her distaste for the Democratic Party continues to grow, leaving her political future uncertain and unfulfilling.

*Names have been changed at the contributor's request

Courtney Sheehan is a former political candidate and current political consultant in Riverside County, CA. She can be reached at courtney4riversidecounty@gmail.com.