The #MeToo conversation, which has been a fixture of national politics over the past two years, seems poised to become a major point of contention within the Democratic primary in the coming weeks.
The first inkling of that came on Monday when Jane Mayer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, published a lengthy story titled, “The Case of Al Franken,” re-examining the sexual harassment allegations against the former Minnesota senator.
The piece took a fresh look at one of Franken’s accusers, Leeann Tweeden, who said Franken groped and kissed her without consent during a USO comedy tour in 2006, and found that several details did not add up. While not everyone was convinced the story brought relevant information to the forefront, the story sparked yet another round of second-guessing over whether the senator should have resigned.
And, as with prior episodes, the spotlight turned to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who was the first and most vocal among Democratic senators to call for Franken to step down.
Hours after the story published, Gillibrand said she didn't regret her decision, taking a hard line consistent with her previous stance. “There is no prize for someone who tries to hold accountable a powerful man who is good at his day job,” she said at a town hall in New York City. “But we should have the courage to do it anyway.” She went on to say: “It only talked about one allegation. What about the seven other allegations? There was really no critical or investigative journalism or reporting on the other seven—and that certainly causes me pause.”
But the question seems likely to come up in the next round of debates (this coming week) and it could be directed at others on the stage. Several 2020 Democrats also called for Franken’s resignation, including Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Michael Bennett (D-CO), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). They did not immediately make comments about the Mayer story, though South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he would not have called for Franken to resign when asked last month.
It’s not just the reconsideration of Franken’s allegations that is thrusting the #MeToo debate firmly back into the 2020 primary. Later in the week, Gillibrand offered something of a preview of a line of attack she may use against a primary opponent over a topic that disproportionately affects women.
“We have Democratic candidates running for president right now who do not believe necessarily that it’s a good idea that women work outside the home,” Gillibrand said before starting an event in Iowa City, Iowa. “No joke,” she added.
Gillibrand pointedly declined to mention which candidate she was referring to. But there appeared to be only two possibilities. The first was Warren, who has written about the difficulties families encounter when needing to depend on two incomes. But Warren’s position is far more nuanced than Gillibrand’s attack would suggest. And the more likely target appears to be former Vice President Joe Biden.
Indeed, the New York Democrat was most likely referencing a HuffPost story published earlier in the day detailing how in 1981, Biden was against expanding a child care tax credit as the only “no” vote in the Senate.
Gillibrand didn’t land any particularly damaging attacks on Biden when they shared a stage in Miami. But with women’s issues again gaining fresh relevance, she could tactically choose to go after Biden, forcefully following Harris’ successful attack on him during the first debate.
BOOKER MAKES HIS ELECTABILITY ARGUMENT
Booker-world has spent much of the week sparring from a far with Biden. But while much of their back and forth has been over the former vice president’s record on criminal justice, the New Jersey Democrat also took the opportunity to make the case for his general election viability (and, implicitly, to question Biden’s).
“I want to talk about what people mean when they ask ‘is somebody electable?,” Booker said in a speech at the 2019 National Urban League Annual Conference in Indianapolis. “And when they ask that question— who, in their mind, is doing the electing? Because most of the time, when somebody is asking about electability, they’re not asking about the African American voters who make up the most reliable constituency of the Democratic Party. And that’s a problem,” he said.
Booker went on to say he will strive to win over voters who voted for President Trump and those who were not motivated to vote at all in the last election, pointing to parts of his record that he said make him best positioned to take on the president.
“When I tell you that as President of the United States, I will dismantle a system of mass incarceration, you can believe me, because it's the work that I've been doing for the past two decades of my life, most recently in the Senate by championing and passing a criminal justice reform bill that has already liberated thousands of people,” he said.
“When I say as president that I will increase access to capital in the communities that need it the most, believe me, because that's the work I was doing as a mayor to increase entrepreneurial opportunities for African Americans and as a Senator to expand access to capital. When I talk about as President of the United States that we are going to massively increase affordable housing, deal with the challenges of gentrification, you can be sure that I will do that because actually, that was the partnership I had with the Essex County Urban League when I was a mayor, and we doubled the production of affordable housing and increase salaries.”
Booker will need to make that case clearly and concisely next week. While his first debate performance was not panned, it did not move the polling needle, which he’ll ultimately need to do to move forward in the race. And while Biden may have taken a bunch of arrows during the first debate, his ability to regain some of his polling lead demonstrates the immense value that comes to those candidates who can make the case that they can beat Trump. Booker will need some of that to leapfrog opponents.
CLIMATE CHANGE GETS A MOMENT
As The Daily Beast’s Gideon Resnick reported exclusively this week, 2020 Democrats will get a climate-only televised event in September—something several candidates have been demanding for months.
The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service will host a conversation in collaboration with MSNBC and Our Daily Planet for an event that will give presidential hopefuls a chance to distinguish themselves on a topic some have argued has not received enough airtime in the primary conversation so far. CNN also announced it will host a climate town hall the same month in New York City.
It’s unlikely to be enough to fully satisfy environmental activists who want all the candidates on the same stage, at the same time, debating climate policy. But it’s a good indication that the issue is starting to break through. As is the fact that more candidates are beginning to outline ambitious agendas. Both Gillibrand and Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer introduced their plans to tackle climate change this week, with Gillibrand calling for a $10 trillion public and private investment to eliminate carbon and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and Steyer calling for cuts to fossil fuel pollution to achieve total clean energy by 2045.
