Both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris lost to President-elect Donald Trump in earth-shattering fashion. During their respective runs, Clinton and Harris were viewed as inevitable and deserving. Each was conferred the special ability to make history by becoming the first female president, ending the United States’s patriarchal domination once and for all. At least, this is the narrative they sold.

Each campaign should have been about the best Democrat for the job, who just happened to be a woman. Instead, the campaigns were so focused on breaking a glass ceiling that all things became secondary to the biology of their candidates.