Win or lose, Spokane women see Harris run as a milestone

Spokane women see Vice President Kamala Harris’ run for president as making history.

“This election is definitely a very big milestone,” said 22-year-old Aileen Sarmiento Velasco. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of conversations recently with people who feel like this election is important.”

Sarmiento Velasco, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Mexico, showed up Tuesday night to support local county commissioner candidate Molly Marshall. She said seeing Mexico’s recent election of their first female president opened her eyes to the current election.

“I think for me it would be a really big wake -up call,” she said. “For a long time, both men and women thought it was impossible for a female to be elected.”

As Harris faces off with former President Donald Trump in the 2024 general election, data shows women were showing up for Harris more consistently at early voting in battleground states, according to a POLITICO report. Women were outperforming men by a 10-point gap, with men trailing behind at 45%.

There could be many reasons for this: Harris takes a strong stance in supporting abortion, while Trump has wavered in speaking about it after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022; or simply that women want someone who represents their sex.

“I think men like voting for other men … It sounds really simple. And I think women like women, so they like to vote for women,” said Airway Heights City Councilwoman Jennifer Morton. “The most important thing is that, as a woman, you vote for what you believe in … And you vote for the candidate that represents that belief. That’s the important part.”

Others believe representation and an understanding of abortion matters more.

Spokane City Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke, who was watching the election Tuesday, said the deep -noted values of people not taking women seriously are scary to see, but Harris is proving the country is working toward a better understanding of women’s capabilities.

“People have kind of distanced themselves from the consequences of taking away women’s rights and bodily autonomy,” Klitzke said.

Joyce Miller, 87, marched in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s for reproductive rights. She believes Harris is campaigning not for herself but “for the right reasons.”

“She’s doing it for the American culture,” Miller said.

Mary Ellen Gaffney-Brown, 71, thinks there is too much on the line not to elect Harris. With four daughters and two granddaughters, the election could not be more important to her, she said at Marshall’s election party Tuesday.

“I’ve got skin in the game. My children having less rights than me in the land of the free and the home of the brave is unacceptable,” Gaffney-Brown said on the topic of abortion. “We’ve fought for reproductive freedom because women, we’re dying. We’re not going back.”

Gaffney-Brown remains hopeful the U.S. will have a first female president.

“It’ll happen in our lifetime,” Gaffney-Brown said. “I know it.”

Spokesman-Review Journalism Institute interns Virginia Carr, Sofia Hessler, Laura Sheikh and Olive Pete contributed to this report.