Elections are quickly approaching, which means candidates are campaigning like crazy. Several candidates have come and gone, several debates have occurred and many unfavorable comments about other candidates have been made. In the midst of all of this, it’s hard to keep up with who’s running and what they stand for. I’ve got you covered. I will provide a brief overview of the Democratic Candidates and their platforms, ranking them in the order that Business Insider’s article ranks them.
Former Vice President Joe Biden – Former VP Joe Biden served as the 47th vice president alongside Former President Barack Obama. He also represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate before becoming VP. He attended Syracuse for law school. His vision for America’s future is to rebuild the backbone of the country (the middle class), demonstrate respected leadership on the world stage by leading by example, and make sure the democracy includes everyone. He plans to pay educators what they deserve and invest in resources for school. The former vp also wants to welcome immigrants into our communities reassert the commitment to asylum-seekers and refugees. Could his experience be enough to earn him the position as democratic nominee? We will soon find out. To read more about his goals for America, read here.
Senator Bernie Sanders – He’s back and fighting hard to claim the democratic nomination! I think one of the biggest things to note about Senator Sanders is that he’s a demcratic socialist which, I believe, has made him popular (particularly with the younger crowd). He is a U.S. Senator from Vermont and a member of the Democratic Caucus. He attended Brooklyn College and University of Chicago. He has fought for working families, focusing on the middle class and acknowledging the gap between the working class and rich. So, what does he stand on. He wants Medicare and college for all (yay for future students), to reinstate and expand DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) and transform the energy system to 100% renewable energy. Read more about his platform here.
Senator Elizabeth Warren – To provide some background, Senator Warren went to Rutgers Law School, she’s a former law professor and senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. She was an assistant to President Barack Obama and special adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury, leading the establishment of the consumer agency and protecting consumers’ finances. Senator Warren’s plans are to strengthen democracy, tackle the corruption in Washington (which she deems only helpful to the wealthy and well connected) and put power back into the hands of the people. Her latest plans include cancelling student loan debt on the first day of her presidency, fixing the bankruptcy system and more. Read more about her platform here.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg – Former NY Mayor Michale Bloomberg is a businessman, politician and author. He’s also the co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. As mayor, he worked to make right some of the wrongs that fell heavily on vulnerable communities. As for his plans, he wants an all-in economy, which is his agenda designed to put Americans in better paying, higher quality jobs, provides education and training to community college students and more. He also wants a clean energy economy and equality for all (including LGBT+). He has several comments on different issues, such as plans for health coverage, immigration, maternal health and gun safety. To read more about his plans, read here.
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg – Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a politician. He’s a graduate of Harvard College and Oxford University. He was a Rhodes Scholar. He’s also openly gay! He has spoken out about several issues including working families, disability and inclusion and K-12 and early education. For infrastructure, the plan is to ensure that federal funds go to cities, counties, tribes, etc. There are plans to better support and empower the Latino community. For women, he plans to close the pay gap based on gender by holding businesses accountable. To read more about his goals, read here.
Andrew Yang – Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, author and lawyer. He’s work with many start ups. He attended Columbia Law School. Yang prides himself on understanding the economy. As for issues, he wants to implement the Freedom Dividend, a basic universal income of $1,000 per month for every American adult over the age of 18. He aims to provide medicare for all. Yang also wants human-centered capitalism, expressing that the focus of our economy should be “to maximize human welfare”. He wants us to look at humans as more important than money and he wants the market to exist to serve common goals and values. You can find out more about his platform here.
Senator Amy Klobuchar – Senator Amy Klobuchar is a lawyer and politician. She is currently serving as the senior U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Senator Klobuchar attended the University of Chicago Law School. She supports universal healthcare for all Americans and tackling the climate crisis amongst other things. During her first 100 days as president, she’s going to get the U.S. back in the international climate agreement, rebuild relationships with allies, prioritize cybersecurity, expand Va health benefits for women and their babies and more. To read more about what she stands on, read here.
Tom Steyer – Tom Steyer is an American hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist and liberal activist. He went to Stanford Graduate School of Business, Yale University and a few other schools (talk about educated). His priorities include combating climate change and putting people in charge of the democracy. For climate, he wants to focus on local community solutions. For structural reform, Steyer wants to expand access to the ballot box, get corporate money out of politics and institute term limits. You can read more about the issues here.
Senator Michale Bennet – Senator Bennet is a businessman, lawyer and politician. He represents the state of Colorado. He has written several books and went to Yale Law School. On the about page of his website, it’s expressed that he “turned around failing businesses in the private sector and improved outcomes for kids as superintendent of the Denver Public Schools”. As for his vision, Senator Bennet hopes to drive economic opportunity by ensuring that incomes grow for everyone, restore American values by reasserting the importance of an independent judiciary (judges won’t be influenced by other branches of government or partisan interests) and respect for free press, and fix broken politics (such as businesses having a hand in politics). He expresses on his webpage that “we need to learn to govern ourselves again”. To read the specific, look here.
Former Maryland Representative John Delaney – Lastly, Former Maryland Representative John Delaney is an attorney, businessman and politician. He attended Georgetown Law School and Columbia University. He has a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that will create jobs and better the community, which he plans to pay for by raising corporate tax rate by 27%. He also wants to combat the opioid crisis and add amendments to the antitrust laws. Healthcare, foreign policy and encouraging entrepreneurship are also on his agenda, in addition to other issues. To read more about his platform, click here.
Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick – Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is a politician, lawyer, author and businessman. He was the 71st Governor of Massachusetts. He attended Harvard Law School, after which he joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and led the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (as per his webpage). His vision includes fixing big systems like immigration and criminal justice, grow our economy by investing in public schools and creating better jobs and renew our democracy from voting to education. You can read more about his platform here.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard – Representative Tulsi Gabbard politician and Hawaii Army National Guard major. She is Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district. She attended Hawai’i Pacific University (aloha!). She plans to redirect funds and spend them on building a cleaner, safer, America, providing adequate resources and accountability so that all students get a quality education (after all, the children are the future) and civil liberties and privacy. She speaks on more issues that she wants to address on her webpage, from human rights to gun control. To read more, click here.
I am personally impressed with the diversity of candidates! If you’re interested in learning more, the New York Times’ Youtube Channel features a bunch of great, short clips on some of the candidates. It’s important that we are all aware of who’s running and what they stand on so that we can be prepared when elections roll around.