Democratic Dilemma
UNRAVELING THE MESS OF DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020
BY ZACH WHITLEY
A s o f April 25,22 candidates are running for president in the 2020 election, w ith
20 b ein g D em ocrats, and tw o b ein g Republicans. For the sake o f th is an alysis,
P resident D onald Trum p w ill be excluded because m ost are already fam iliar
w ith h is policies and problem s. The top 10 candidates have been ch osen and
elaborated on here b ase d on the R eal Clear Politics average o f p olls.
The form er vice president o f the Un ited States is a popular contender fo r the n o m in atio n , b ut has come, under fire
recently due to sexual harassm ent allegations and for his role in the Clarence Thom as Suprem e Court confirm ation
hearings o f 1991, specifically his response to A n ita H ill’ s testim on y. H e h a s since issued an apology, but th a t’ s
part o f the controversy — it has been 28 years and h e ’s choosin g to issue an apology now . In regards to his past,
he d oesn ’ t exactly have a clean record eith er, as he voted for the D efen se o f M arriage A ct and w a s in favor o f the
1
BERNIE
SANDERS
Iraq W ar. A lot has changed since th en and Joe Biden hopes to further his platform based o ff his experience and
the la c k o f it from h is rivals. H is p latform currently lacks in actual policy, but he nam es o ff w hat he has plans for,
such as a healthcare and college debt.
IDE
BIDEN
The 7 ?-year-o ld senator from Verm ont plans to run for president again after his failed attem pt to claim the Democratic
nom ination in 2016. Sanders plans to run on a sim ilar platform to w hat he ran on in 2016, this tim e w ith the addition o f
a M edicare-for-all plan to create the single-payer healthcare system . Additionally> he is a co-sponsor o f the Green New
Deal, another sweepingly im portant plan. W ith these large plans, w e find one o f his major criticisms, the fact that all
these plans would require a large am ount o f governm ent spending. However, he does counter these plans w ith the fact
that he would tax the wealthy exponentially. His other m ajor criticisms are h is age and the fact that he self-identifies
as a socialist, since h e ’s always been registered as an independent and never been a part o f the Democratic party.
Form er bankruptcy law scholar and current M assachusetts senator has been spearheading a plan to elim in ate $640
b illion in student debt and o ffer free public college by taxin g the w ealthy. She is one o f the few senators to propose
plans to break up G o o glé, A m azon and Facebook m ergers. She claim s to be a “ dem ocratic capitalist” as opposed to
Sander’ s “ dem ocratic socialist” cla im s, She is another co -sp on so r on the M ed ica re -fo r-a ll p lan , the Green New
D eal and the M arijuana Justice A ct. She has b een criticized in the past saying she is o f Cherokee descent, and after
a D N A test, she later m ade à public apology.
ELIZABETH
WARREN
V
KAMALA
HARRIS
Lon gtim e lawyer and recent senator; Harris is positioned to chan ge the governm ent she works for. Harris'sigried
o n as a co -sp o n so r to the M ed ica re -fo r-a ll p lan and the Green New D e a l, She plans to ,lift taxes on m id dle-class
households, w ants to increase teacher pay and decrim inalize sex w ork. She has received m ost o f her fla k from her
actions as the C alifornia A ttorney General, such as opposing a b ill that in vestigates police shootings and defending
the death penalty. Som e o f her controversy com es from a bit o f hypocrisy on her part, as she supports m arijuana
and has adm itted to usin g it personally, b ut has put away n e a r ly !,500 people for possession and usage. M ost o f her
career as an attorney general contains these contradictions, so m ake o f th at w hat you w ill
O p e n ly -gay , youn g m ayor o f S outh Bend, Indiana and lookin g to be a popular contender in the election. Buttigieg
is a strong proponent o f The Paris C lim ate A greem en t, The G reen New Deal and believes clim ate change to.be a
n ation al threat. In addition, he supports universal background checks on guns and b an n in g guns in schools. He
shares m o st o f The key hallm arks o f other dem ocratic p latfo rm s, b ut h ig h lig h ts h is view s in regard to clim ate
chan ge, college costs and guns. H e has no m ajo r controversy surrounding h im , w ith the m ost notable controversy
bein g that h e ’ s a m illen n ial candidate, w hich is apparently a problem for som e people.
BETO
O’ROURKE
The seeminglyunheard o f and now household-name comes from his nationally publicized, narrow loss against Sen. Ted Cruz
in the 2018 midterm elections, but seeks to attain the Democratic nom ination along w ith 21 other Democratic candidates.
O ’Rourke’s strongest policy is perhaps his stance oil climate change, having proposed a $5 trillion dollar plan to address
it, listing it as the “ greatest threat we face” according to his Facebook. He is vocal critic o f Trump’s border wall plan and
supports immigration reform. Additionally, one o f his more controversial ideas is Supreme Court reform, expanding the
amount o f judges and giving each party an equal amount o f picks. These ideas scare some democrats into thinking that he
m ay “ not be progressive enough,” despite sharing a largè am ount o f policies w ith other traditional democrats:
PETE
BUTTIGIEG