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After Countless Debates With Progressive Men, The Real Issue With Supporting Warren Is Clear

Emily J. Smith
5 min readMar 14, 2020

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By now the conversation is so recognizable I can sense it long before it comes. Someone of the same cultural and political ilk — progressive, coastal, eager for change — admits they prefer Sanders to Warren; it’s not that they don’t like Warren, they’re always sure to make that clear, she’s just not their candidate. When pressed on why, given how close the two candidates are ideologically and how desperately we need a woman in the White House, that person — usually a man, though not always — minimizes gender as an argument and instead dives into nuanced policy differences. I’ve had this debate so many times in the past few months and to an insane degree last week in the wake of Elizabeth Warren suspending her candidacy — the best I’ve seen in my lifetime — that I can reenact it in my sleep.

Historically, these arguments end up circular and maddening, but after Warren’s devastating loss, the magnitude of which was as upsetting as the loss itself, the crux of the issue has become clear. At the heart of all these debates is not where someone lies politically; almost everyone I entertain long conversations with at this point are progressives, and everyone these days calls themselves a feminist. The core issue boils down to a single question: Where in one’s ranking of progressive priorities…

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Emily J. Smith
Emily J. Smith

Written by Emily J. Smith

Writer and tech professional. My debut novel, NOTHING SERIOUS, is out Feb '25 from William Morrow / HarperCollins (more at emjsmith.com).

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