Earlier this week, Sen. Kamala Harris of California announced her 2020 presidential run, joining at least two other female lawmakers in the race for the Democratic nomination. That’s big news not only for women, but for all Americans who want to improve the country, said Know Your Value founder Mika Brzezinski.
“With the latest entry in the 2020 Democratic sweepstakes by Kamala Harris, the early pace for the Democratic nomination for president is being set by women,” Brzezinski declared on Tuesday’s “Morning Joe.”
Besides Sen. Harris, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have also announced they will make a bid for the nation’s top job, which Brzezinski called “their own audacious move towards history.”
The number of strong, credible, female candidates throwing their hats into the ring is unprecedented. Brzezinski credited Hillary Clinton for more women lawmakers competing for the Democratic nomination. Brzezinski said Clinton’s loss in 2016 “created a huge opening for a new group of women to step up.”
“It’s also the natural evolution morphing into a revolution as women have spent decades rising in numbers and influence at the top levels of the party,” Brzezinski added. “Now it is their time.”
Sen. Harris’s announcement comes as more women are running—and winning—seats in public office.
There are currently 102 women in the House and 14 women in the Senate, which surpasses the 105 women in 2016, according to Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics.
And according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 2,073 women this year will occupy seats in the 50 state houses. That’s an increase of more than 190 seats from last year.
But women, who make up over 50 percent of the U.S. population, are still far from having equal representation in Congress. Currently, 25 percent of the 116th Congress are women.
Still, Brzezinski predicted a woman will ultimately become the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential race. She applauded the efforts of the women who recently announced their plans to run for president and said the shift is exactly what the country needs.
“These women, Sens. Harris, Warren, Gillibrand and likely others will set the pace and set the agenda and tap into the grassroots support from women and men to repudiate Donald Trump, change the direction of this country and show young women across American what it means to know their value,” Brzezinski said.
“It is past time that America finally elects a woman as president and joins the ranks of our western allies and civilized countries across the world,” Brzezinski said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Renee Morad