by State Senator Jennifer B. Boysko, State Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi, Del. Kathy Tran, Susan S Platt – co-founder Her Excellency, Pat Reuss – PAC Advisor to NOW
Earlier today (Friday, May 14), the WAMU Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi spent 30 minutes discussing the 2021 statewide elections in Virginia. Appearing on the show was also Laura Vozzella, reporter for the Washington Post covering Virginia politics; and Tom Sherwood, political analyst at WAMU and writer for the Washington City Paper.
The show began with a discussion and analysis of the Republican nominees recently selected for the three statewide offices – Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General. What happened next was shocking, as when it came time to discuss the Democratic primary race for governor, not one panelist mentioned State Senator Jennifer McClellan or former Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy by name. Instead, they briefly lumped McClellan and Carroll Foy together as “the two women” while discussing – at length – the presumed front runner and at least mentioning every other candidate’s name on the primary ballot.
Would they really have referred to Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Amy Klobuchar as “the three women” running for President?
Senator McClellan in particular has the most experience of all candidates on the ballot having served in the General Assembly for the past 15 years and having been the chief patron of over 300 bills, many of them landmark policy achievements. She has forged strong political relationships with both Democrats and Republican legislators alike and has the respect of everyone we know.
Former Delegate Carroll Foy has broken barriers her entire life and has proven herself to be a force of nature, being one of the first women to graduate from VMI (against the odds). Also a lawyer, she too has helped pass and supported major policy changes like the ERA and Medicaid expansion.
Both of “the two women” have garnered major endorsements and support and are strong viable candidates. When we wonder why women struggle to have agency in positions of power, this was a stark example. For the journalists to completely exclude Senator McClellan and former Delegate Carroll Foy by name as even being in the race shows us that we are nowhere near meeting the values we claim regarding equality.
When will women – particularly those running for the highest office in their state or Commonwealth – get the same respect as the men in the race?
Respectfully say our names,
State Senator Jennifer B. Boysko
State Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi
Del. Kathy Tran
Susan S Platt – co-founder Her Excellency
Pat Reuss – PAC Advisor to NOW
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