Well-behaved women... : a 2020 TL

[Kamala]

"... rarely make history! And believe me, the women of the second half of the 2010s were anything but well-behaved. I remember watching them on the news, when I was in elementary school, working towards progress and their values.

There were so many of them, trailblazers, icons, role models: Kirsten. Kamala. Kay. Susan. Tammy. Jeanne. Lisa. Jacky. Gwen. Kyrsten. Tammy. Claire. Sally. Katie. Amy. Liz. Catherine. Cary. Stefany. Michelle. Heidi. Debbie. Pramila. Gretchen. Christine. All of them, inspirational, standing on the shoulders of previous women, who pushed the boundaries in the decades preceding - such as Hillary, Geraldine, Patsy, and most importantly, Shirley.

And now today, I stand here, ready to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president. A female president is no longer something that is new or surprising. It's not unusual. But it's important for us all to remember the difficult journey that these women had to endure to make sure so that we could take a woman as president for granted.

Here is their story..."


- Angela Stein-Herrado, governor of Puerto Rico and future 57th President of the United States, accepting the nomination of the Democratic Party at the Democratic National Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Kay
Hillary
Liz
Tulsi
Debbie
Jane
Donna
Amy
Ivanka
Melania
Kellyanne
Katie
Kelly
Deborah
Tammy
Catherine
Kamala
Natalie
Hillary II
Stefany
Rebecca
Dianne
Cathy

[America Needs R'hllor]

Curious! Also, Stein-Herrado... does this mean America might actually get a Jewish President? Yay!

[Kamala]

Kay
November 4th, 2014

It was not shaping up to be a good night for Democrats - it was President Obama's sixth year in office, and election night was even worse than pollsters had imagined. Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor have already been unseated in their races, and Iowa's Bruce Braley had greatly underperformed polls and lost Harkin's seat to Republican Joni Ernst. In Kansas, Greg Orman underperformed polls and failed to unseat the incumbent Roberts, and so has Alison Grimes in Kentucky. Even Mark Warner and Jeanne Shaheen, seemingly strong incumbents, has been looking vulnerable to Gillespie's and Brown's challenges.

But in North Carolina, Kay Hagan seemed to be holding her own against a strong challenge from North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis. Although Tillis has been leading for most the night, results were starting to come from Mecklenburg County, home of Charlotte. Tillis's early lead was very small, thanks to decent turnout from black-majority communities and a strong Hagan performance in Guilford County, Hagan's home county and the area she represented as a State Senator.

Slowly but surely, Tillis's lead evaporated, and Hagan took the lead. At her campaign headquarters, Hagan sat anxiously, when suddenly, on CNN:

Final Results:
Kay Hagan - 1,489,213 - 49.58%
Thom Tillis - 1,400,339 - 46.62%
Sean Haugh - 109,100 - 3.63%
Write-ins - 5,271 - 0.18%
Total Votes - 3,003,923

Results of the 2014 Senate Elections:

Republicans - 53 Seats
Democrats and Independents - 47 Seats

[BuckeyeNut]

Interesting POD. Hope this doesn't mean you're not done with your Parliamentary TL!

[Kamala]

Interesting POD. Hope this doesn't mean you're not done with your Parliamentary TL!

Yep, don't worry! I'll update both of them.

[LCSPopTart]

Definitely will keep my eye on this TL.

[Kamala]

Hillary
January 31, 2016

The Iowa Caucus was tomorrow, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was feeling cautiously optimistic. While public polling showed her and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tied in the popular vote, her own private pollsters showed her with a decent lead over the Senator.

But of course, nothing was set until the end of the night tomorrow. Organization was good, plenty of ads were run, and thousands of door knocked upon.

February 1st, 2016

Hillary's heart sank as she saw early results coming in. Sanders' energetic progressive campaign struck a chord with many Iowans, and he was overperforming early expectations. Of course, Sanders was expected to win the next contest in New Hampshire, so a win for Hillary in Iowa was crucial for momentum.

By the end of the night, results were bleak for Hillary. Her potential momentum was stifled as Bernie won a majority of the delegates.

Bernie Sanders - 28 pledged delegates, 0 unpledged delegates
Hillary Clinton - 16 pledged delegates, 6 unpledged delegates
Uncommitted - 1 unpledged delegate

Hillary's chances were significantly damaged with this loss. She knew she had to minimize losses in Iowa and then win South Carolina and Nevada by landslide margins. It wasn't going to be easy. But Hillary has never backed down from adversity - whether it was 2008, 2000, or even in the 1990s.

Bernie Sanders - 28 Delegates
Hillary Clinton - 22 Delegates

[Kamala]

Liz
February 28th, 2016

Despite being a first-term Senator, Elizabeth Warren held an outsized amount of influence within the Democratic Party. Despite calls for her to take up the mantle of the party for president in 2016, Liz decided to sit out.

But Liz still had some power, and has been called to use it.

While Bernie had won the first three primary contests, he lost South Carolina by a very large margin, and his campaign was losing steam and momentum. The Massachusetts primary, as well as the rest of the contests on Super Tuesday, was only a few days away. Liz and Bernie were ideological allies, but Liz was worried how Clinton would react to her "defection." But Liz's endorsement could change the entire course of the primaries.

Yet, it was important to do something. Liz decided to call her chief of staff. If she endorses Hillary, she could be considered a traitor to the Progressive cause - but it was more likely there'd be a Democrat in the White House on January 21st, 2017. Endorsing Sanders would cement her as a champion of progressivism and even give her a shot at being his running mate. But, of course, Bernie could lose the election to someone like Rubio or Cruz, or even Trump - ridiculous, of course, but the thought always echoed in the back of her mind.

"Let's endorse Sanders. Write up a statement and send it to the Globe."

Hillary Clinton - 102 Delegates
Bernie Sanders - 80 Delegates

Please comment and let me know how this TL is going and if anything needs to be changed.

[Kamala]

Tulsi
March 2nd, 2016

It was 30 days into the primary season, and Hillary and Bernie were neck and neck in pledged delegates. Yet this was despite near-universal institutional support for Secretary Clinton - but Tulsi decided it was time to change this up. Tulsi Gabbard was the Vice Chair of the DNC, under the chairmanship of Debbie Wassermann Schultz, a die-hard Clinton supporter.

Tulsi officially endorsed Bernie Sanders for President and resigned from her position as Vice Chair. She also joined the Sanders campaign officially as an advisor.

Hopefully, she thought, this would help give the Sanders campaign a much-needed boost even as Clinton won 6 of the 12 Super Tuesday contests, and the big, delegate-rich states of Georgia, Virginia,  and Texas. She hoped Bernie could ride the momentum to victory in the next large contest of Michigan, and from then onto to Super Tuesday II, the nickname given to the five contests of Florida, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, and Illinois, totaling 691 pledged delegates.

But in one, final, middle-finger to the Democratic Establishment, her office released a statement:

Vice Chair Gabbard also calls for Chairwoman Wassermann-Schultz to resign, seeing as the DNC ought not show preference for any candidate.

Hillary Clinton - 679 Delegates (540 Pledged, 139 Unpledged)
Bernie Sanders - 494 Delegates (481 Pledged, 13 Unpledged)

Comments, questions, concerns? Thanks.

[Senator Cris]

Very well written.

[Cactus Jack]

Hagan winning reelection, followed by Bernie doing better than he did OTL?

Let me just emulate Stone Cold Steve Austin for a second: CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?

[BuckeyeNut]

More like Super Twosday, amirite?

[_]

Hagan winning reelection, followed by Bernie doing better than he did OTL?

Let me just emulate Stone Cold Steve Austin for a second: CAN I GET A HELL YEAH?

HELL YEAH!

Great TL So Far Kamala.

[Kamala]

Debbie
April 9th, 2016

The results of the Wyoming caucuses were just announced, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was getting irate. Not only had her second-command pulled a stunt last month, quit, endorsed her unpreferred candidate, and then called for her resignation as well. And for the past few weeks, Bernie Sanders, the opponent of her preferred candidate Hillary Clinton, has been winning contest after contest: Kansas, Nebraska, Maine, Democrats Abroad, Michigan, Northern Marianas, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Wisconsin, and now Wyoming, while Clinton only won Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and, barely, North Carolina.

Sanders won Wyoming with over 60% of the vote, which pushed him up to just 3 fewer delegates than Clinton - despite having nearly 250 fewer superdelegates. Sanders was dominating Clinton in getting votes as well as real, pledged delegates.

Wasserman couldn't let Sanders and his goons hijack the Democratic Party - I mean, what the hell, Sanders wasn't even a Democrat - and she knew she had to do something.

She typed an email to the DNC staff.

It's to put a pin in Sanders. Let's screw this guy. No more debates, nothing. We're not giving an inch. Do we have scandals we can leak to the media? Something degrading about women or blacks or something? I don't care; just leak it. It's crucial Hillary wins this. 

Debbie knew she was playing with fire; she didn't care. Getting rid of Sanders was worth a few burnt fingertips.

Hillary Clinton - 1,333 Delegates (1,048 Pledged Delegates, 285 Unpledged Delegates)
Bernie Sanders - 1,330 Delegates ( 1,297 Pledged Delegates, 33 Unpledged Delegates)

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Love that Broward County tenacity on Debbie in this TL!

[DFL]

Sanders-Warren 2016? Or are we gonna get some Marxist scandal out of old man Bernie?

[Cactus Jack]

I sense Sanders/Hagan, somehow.

[DFL]

I sense Sanders/Hagan, somehow.

Yeah my ability to pick up on foreshadowing was never my strongest suit

[The Govanah Jake]

Come on Sanders.

[Kamala]

Jane
June 14th, 2016

Her husband had just slain Goliath: Bernie Sanders, a backbencher senator from Vermont with no institutional support, had won the final contest of the Democratic Primaries, DC, against Hillary Clinton, a powerful candidate with tons of establishment support.

Yet, despite a massive wave in favor for her husband, Jane Sanders still thought his chances to become the Democrats' nominee were in flux. He had a majority of pledged delegates, but Clinton had an overwhelming number of superdelegates, meaning she had a plurality of delegates in the primaries. Although, Jane was sure that forcing Clinton through the DNC would be political suicide.

She stayed hopeful, knowing that Clinton's unpledged delegates were just that - unpledged. They will certainly hear the cries of support for Bernie, and then switch their support toward him.

We'll see, she thought, we'll see.

But deep down, Jane knew she could harm Bernie's campaign even if he wins he nomination. Her career at Burlington College wasn't spotless, see, and in presidential campaigns, every little problem can become a national scandal.

Hillary Clinton - 2,364 Delegates (1,794 Pledged Delegates , 570 Unpledged Delegates)
Bernie Sanders - 2,303 Delegates (2,257 Pledged Delegates , 46 Unpledged Delegates)
Uncommitted - 96 Unpledged Delegates

[BuckeyeNut]

lol, Bernie winning D.C.

I do enjoy this!

[Lord Admirale]

Something tells me this brutal primary will help Trump landslide 2016....

[Kamala]

Donna
July 24th, 2016

Donna Brazile finally knew what Louis XVI felt like; she had a rebellion on her hands. Sitting pretty wasn't an option - the party she had become interim leader of again would lose an election before even trying if she would do nothing.

She often joked, when asked whom she preferred become the Democratic nominee, that because she's a woman, she supports Clinton - but because she's grumpy, she supports Bernie. But because she always laughed it off, Donna didn't really know who she'd support.

But push has come to shove, and something had to be done. She couldn't let Hillary steal the nomination from Bernie simply due to superdelegates, but she also couldn't let Sanders, an insurgent, hold the Democratic Party hostage.

The convention was tomorrow, and neither candidate had enough delegates secured to become the nominee. A contested convention could spell disaster for the Democrats' electoral chances. This election was winnable - hell, it was practically guaranteed, with Donald Trump of all people leading the Republican ticket - and it shouldn't be squandered due to squabbles at the convention.

Donna reflected again, and knew what she had to do.

She wrote a statement that was to be sent to all superdelegates:

All unpledged delegates must vote for the candidate winning a plurality of votes in their home states during the first ballot. Any deviation will result in vote invalidation and stripping of superdelegate status for the rest of the Convention and any future primary contests.

Bernie had won the majority of the popular vote in the primaries, and if the Party spat in the face of democracy, could it really be called Democratic?

November will bring whatever November will bring.

First Ballot

Bernie Sanders of Vermont - 2,743 Delegates (2,257 Pledged Delegates, 486 Unpledged Delegates)
Hillary Clinton of New York - 2,020 Delegates (1,794 Pledged Delegates, 226 Unpledged Delegates)

Bernie Sanders will be the Democratic Nominee for President in 2016.

[Kamala]

By the way, I'd like to say I greatly appreciate all of your kind words. Thank you.

[YPestis25]

Just got around to reading this. Very well written and interesting timeline! Looking forward to future updates.