Women Warriors
The Democratic Party needs to get tougher, and that’s a job for Democratic women.
Sydney Batch (photo), the new Senate Democratic leader in North Carolina, signaled a tougher approach toward Republicans in an op-ed in The News & Observer:
“Gerrymandered voting maps, efforts to strip power from Democratic elected officials and the consolidation of authority into the hands of a few aren’t just attacks on Democrats — they’re attacks on democracy.
“Anger and frustration can be powerful catalysts for change. Grassroots energy has always fueled progress in our state, and now is the time to channel that energy into action.”
Batch replaced long-time leader Dan Blue, whose nature was less confrontational.
Batch’s tone echoes State Party Chair Anderson Clayton, who laces her scathing critiques of Republicans with strategic f-bombs.
Clayton is blunt about the ongoing state Supreme Court battle: “North Carolina Republicans are trying to steal an election.”
Justice Allison Riggs won that election by defying tradition and boldly pledging in a TV ad to protect women’s reproductive rights.
The most in-your-face ad of 2024 was Lt. Governor Rachel Hunt’s. She held up a mop and big bottle of hydrogen peroxide and vowed to clean up that office after four years of Mark Robinson.
Many men in politics are good at posing, posturing and pontificating. But if you want to get a job done, get a woman to do it.
I learned that early from Stephanie Bass, my first and one of my best hires. She was a reporter in Raleigh when I recruited her to be Governor Jim Hunt’s deputy press secretary.
Again and again, I’ve watched women wade into battle fearlessly and wage war relentlessly.
Some Democrats say we lost to Trump in 2016 and 2024 because we nominated women.
But the biggest problem for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Kamala Harris wasn’t that they’re women; it’s that they were weighed down by the men they couldn’t escape: Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Clinton and Harris also straitjacketed themselves by not wanting to seem “shrill.”
Democrats as different as Deb Ross, Nancy Pelosi, Gretchen Whitmer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have shown that women can be tough and outspoken – and win.
Women warriors can win for us now.
Women Warriors
The Democratic Party needs to get tougher, and that’s a job for Democratic women.
Sydney Batch (photo), the new Senate Democratic leader in North Carolina, signaled a tougher approach toward Republicans in an op-ed in The News & Observer:
“Gerrymandered voting maps, efforts to strip power from Democratic elected officials and the consolidation of authority into the hands of a few aren’t just attacks on Democrats — they’re attacks on democracy.
“Anger and frustration can be powerful catalysts for change. Grassroots energy has always fueled progress in our state, and now is the time to channel that energy into action.”
Batch replaced long-time leader Dan Blue, whose nature was less confrontational.
Batch’s tone echoes State Party Chair Anderson Clayton, who laces her scathing critiques of Republicans with strategic f-bombs.
Clayton is blunt about the ongoing state Supreme Court battle: “North Carolina Republicans are trying to steal an election.”
Justice Allison Riggs won that election by defying tradition and boldly pledging in a TV ad to protect women’s reproductive rights.
The most in-your-face ad of 2024 was Lt. Governor Rachel Hunt’s. She held up a mop and big bottle of hydrogen peroxide and vowed to clean up that office after four years of Mark Robinson.
Many men in politics are good at posing, posturing and pontificating. But if you want to get a job done, get a woman to do it.
I learned that early from Stephanie Bass, my first and one of my best hires. She was a reporter in Raleigh when I recruited her to be Governor Jim Hunt’s deputy press secretary.
Again and again, I’ve watched women wade into battle fearlessly and wage war relentlessly.
Some Democrats say we lost to Trump in 2016 and 2024 because we nominated women.
But the biggest problem for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Kamala Harris wasn’t that they’re women; it’s that they were weighed down by the men they couldn’t escape: Presidents Clinton and Biden.
Clinton and Harris also straitjacketed themselves by not wanting to seem “shrill.”
Democrats as different as Deb Ross, Nancy Pelosi, Gretchen Whitmer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have shown that women can be tough and outspoken – and win.
Women warriors can win for us now.