20 May Getting Involved in the 2020 Presidential Election

It’s been literally impossible for anyone to remain ignorant of the past few years’ political change. The focus on the 2016 presidential election was gigantic, but the spotlight on who will potentially succeed Donald Trump is even greater. As someone who studies political science and is just generally interested in the way America is shaping its future, I wanted to get involved as possible this year.

In spite of previous presidential election cycles kicking off later, the first major candidates announced their campaigns in January of this year. The first official event we attended was Senator Kamala Harris’ commencement rally in Oakland. It was an insanely sunny day at the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and Harris was a really fantastic speaker. She was inspiring, empowering and engaging to watch, and as the rally was hosted in Harris’ hometown, there was a real excitement and pride to the crowd that I haven’t yet seen in a political audience.

Fast-forward to March where we saw Senator Bernie Sanders host a rally in Great Meadow Park at Fort Mason here in San Francisco. I’ve been a fan of Sanders since his first presidential campaign and to see him in person was a genuine privilege. He was exactly as I imagined – passionate and articulate – and it was great to hear the ideas of someone I admire so strongly.

In April we saw former Congressman Beto O’Rourke who narrowly lost to Senator Ted Cruz back in November. I’ve always liked Beto but since he kicked off his first presidential run I was a little more dubious of his campaign – particularly his position on Medicare for All. While I still wasn’t convinced about O’Rourke’s not-massively-progressive policies on a number of issues, he was probably the most charismatic politician I’ve ever seen. Ebullient and charismatic, he was a delight to watch and he had the crowd thoroughly charmed.