SAN FRANCISCO — Democratic women vying for the White House in 2020 face undeniable sexism, Beto O’Rourke told progressive activists Saturday in San Francisco.
“Yes, absolutely, there is disparate treatment of these candidates. There are advantages that I have, that I brought into this race that I did not earn, that were a function of circumstance and fortune and fate being born a white man in this country,” the former Texas congressman said during MoveOn’s “Big Ideas Forum.” “Recognizing that, listening to those who have not had the same life experiences as I have, the same advantages that I have enjoyed, is fundamental to my ability to reflect this country both in our campaign and in any administration that I would lead.”
O’Rourke, one of 24 in a diverse crowd of Democratic presidential hopefuls, pointed to his campaign manager, former Obama aide Jen O’Malley Dillon, as a key person within his campaign working to ensure the organization “looks like this country.”
The 2018 Texas Senate contender, who has been repeatedly pressed on his self-confessed “white privilege,” was among the eight White House prospects who addressed the forum. The proposal he presented was his immigration platform, more details for which he unveiled this week.
“Cancel the president’s chaos on the border: the executive actions, the Muslim travel ban, all this bullshit that in no way, that in any way effectively represents the best traditions and values of the United States of America,” O’Rourke said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also spoke at the event, reiterating his call to stop “endless wars” and to cut defense spending, taking a dig at Democrats who support “big military budgets.”
“I will do everything in my power to stop a war with Iran,” he said, a vow made after reports the Trump administration could send up to 10,000 U.S. service members to the Middle East as tensions rise in the Gulf region.
Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, along with Julian Castro, one of former President Barack Obama’s housing secretaries, were the other candidates invited to the forum.
