Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) believes that Americans should elect a female president and she has made this issue a theme of her campaign.
“To the pundits who still say: 'Can a woman really win?' YES! Of course we can,” the senator said during a speech in Iowa last weekend. She then claimed that the president’s “kryptonite is a strong woman who stands up for what she believes in.”
Women leaders across the globe are more likely to have faster-growing economies and are more inclusive, tolerant, and collaborative. In other words: When women lead, we get things done. pic.twitter.com/QkweMoDAcQ
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 11, 2019
“Just imagine what we could achieve with a working mother in the White House instead of a misogynist. Imagine the progress we could make with a diverse cabinet of Americans who actually reflect why we are a great country," she said. "And the agenda we could pass, not only with women at the table, but with a woman at the head of the table.”
Sen. Gillibrand has pledged that as president, she will only appoint judicial nominees who will uphold Roe v. Wade. She also wants Roe v. Wade codified into law and she wants to ditch the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal money from funding abortions except in cases including rape, incest or the life of the mother.
“I am also going to codify Roe, and I will repeal Hyde, so that women of color and low-income women also get access to abortion services,” she said during her Iowa speech. “In fact, I don’t think there is room in our party for a Democratic candidate who does not support women’s full reproductive freedom.”
Sen. Gillibrand also thinks that politicians can learn from crossdressers:
I think elected officials could learn a lot from drag queens. It takes real courage to be unapologetically yourself, to go against the grain, and to fight for what's right. To me, that's the definition of brave. https://t.co/YJ1DkAlYXI
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) May 10, 2019
Gillibrand recently announced that she has qualified to participate in the first Democrat primary debates. But her polling numbers remain very low—the RealClearPolitics average has her at just 0.3%.