On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “At This Hour,” former Hillary for America Senior Spokesperson Karen Finney cited “sexism and misogyny,” changes to the Voting Rights Act, third party votes, and FBI Director James Comey’s letter to Congress as possible factors for Clinton’s loss.
Finney said of Clinton’s loss, “I think there were a number of factors. And I do think it’s wise for us to take a step back and recognize that it’s going to take a little time to fully understand what happened, but I’ll offer a couple of thoughts. Number one, I think one of the things we saw, there were a number of headwinds that just proved to be too strong.”
She continued, “Electing the first woman president was always going to be tough. And I think given the level of sexism and misogyny that we saw come to the surface and be very public, I think that supports the fact that in this country we’re going to have to have a real conversation about that.”
Finney further stated, “This was also the first election that we had without the protections of the Voting Rights Act. And I think there’s a lot of good work going on now to try to understand what kind of implications that may have had.”
She added, “I also think that one of the things we have to take a look at is what happened with the third party votes, because in a number of cases, Hillary lost some key states by very close margins, in places where perhaps that third party vote could have made up the difference. So, I think there are any number of factors. I also happen to believe, having been on the road, the Comey letter did have an impact on our momentum. It was palpable, frankly, in some of the places that I visited. … So, again, I think there are a confluence of a whole host of things that there’s not one simple answer to what happened here.”
When asked if Clinton would have won without the Comey letter, Finney answered that you can’t be sure of anything in hindsight, but that “it certainly felt that way.”
Finney also cited “the fact that here we were talking about things like the Clinton Foundation for months and months and months and months, when, what do we know about the foundation? The Clintons don’t get any money from it. They actually do real charitable work, versus the Trump Foundation which used its money to buy portraits of Donald Trump. I raise that to say…I do think that the media plays a role in the coverage of this campaign, is another piece that’s going to have to be examined in its aftermath.”
She later stated that there “any number of places we may have made a decision that didn’t turn the way we wanted it to.”
Finney concluded that she thought it was time to look at the Electoral College system.
(h/t WFB)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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