Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Who could be the first female president

We did not make history by electing the first female president in 2016.  Having experienced strong female leaders in my career, too many to mention, I have no doubt that a woman will one day win the presidency.  It will probably be soon.

Hillary Rodham Clinton just turned 69 years old.  If she were to run and get elected in 2020, she would become the oldest person to be elected president for the first time at age 73, beating Donald Trump by about 3 years and Ronald Reagan by just a few days longer than Trump.  Sooner or later, her age and health will catch up to her.  It is likely that Hillary will not run for political office again.

Here is a list of women who could, perhaps as soon as 2020, win the White House:

The governorship of a state is the most common path the the White House, here are the current female governors.  There are six currently serving, about half and half from each party.

Susana Martinez, Republican, New Mexico, term expires in 2019 and she is not eligible to run again
Mary Fallin, Republican, Oklahoma, term expires in 2019 and she is not eligible to run again
Kate Brown, Democrat, Oregon
Gina Raimondo, Democrat, Rhode Island
Nikki Haley, Republican, South Carolina, term expires in 2019 and she is not eligible to run again
Muriel Brewster, Democrat, DC, which has just voted to accept statehood, however it still needs to be approved by Congress and signed into law by the President.

The US Senate is a path that many have used to become the president.  Here is a list of female US Senators in the 115th Congress.

Lisa Murkowski, Republican, Alaska, just re-elected, term up in 2022
Diane Feinstein, Democrat, California, term up in 2018
Kamala Harris, Democrat, California, just elected, term up in 2022
Mazie Horono, Democrat, Hawaii, term up in 2018
Joni Ernst, Republican, Iowa, term up in 2020
Susan Collins, Republican, Maine, term up in 2020
Elizabeth Warren, Democrat, Massachusetts, term up in 2018
Debbie Stebenow, Democrat, Michigan, term up in 2018
Amy Klobuchar, Democrat, Minnesota, term up in 2018
Clair McCaskill, Democrat, Missouri, term up in 2018
Deb Fisher, Republican, Nebraska, term up in 2018
Maggie Hassan, Democrat, New Hampshire, just elected, term up in 2022
Jeane Shaheen, Democrat, New Hampshire, term up in 2020
Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat, New York, term up in 2018
Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat, North Dakota, term up in 2018
Patty Murray, Democrat, Washington, just re-elected, term up in 2022
Maria Cantwell, Democrat, Washington, term up in 2018
Shelly Moore Capito, Republican, West Virginia
Tammy Baldwin, Democrat, Wisconsin, term up in 2018

Having a term in an off-year, such as after the 2018 mid-term election.  This will give that person two years to focus on the White House, without having another job to do.

List of female CEOs.  Now that Donald Trump has opened the door for a corporate CEO to become president, the next person to step through it might be a woman.  I do not know the political affiliation of any of these women.  These women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

Mary Barra, General Motors (Possible Democrat)
Heather Bresch, Mylan, Inc (Democrat)
Ursula Burns, Xerox (Democrat)
Debra Cafaro, Ventas (Possible Democrat)
Susan Cameron, Reynolds (Possible Republican)
Safra Catz, Oracle (Possible Democrat)
Lynn Good, Duke Energy (Political Leanings Unknown)
Shira Goodman, Staples (Possible Democrat)
Tricia Griffith, The Progressive (Political Leanings Unknown)
Marilyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin (Possible Republican)
Vicki Hollub, Occidental Petroleum (Political Leanings Unknown)
Gracia Martore, TEGNA (Possible Democrat)
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo (Possible Democrat)
Beth Mooney, Key (Possible Republican)
Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup (Possible Democrat)
Indra Nooyi, Pepsico (Possible Democrat, but has been critical of policies of both parties.)
Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics (Political Leanings Unknown)
Patricia Poppe, CMS Energy (Political Leanings Unknown)
Debra Reed, Sempra Energy (Possible Republican)
Barbara Rentler, Ross Stores (Political Leanings Unknown)
Virginia Rometty, IBM (Possible Democrat)
Irene Rosenfeld, Mondelez International (Political Leanings Unknown--Criticized by both political parties, likely a Libertarian.)
Meg Whitman, HP (Possible Republican)

Probably, the first female president in on one of the lists above  Many of these women, whether you like what they have accomplished or not, have accomplished as much or even much more that Hillary Rodham Clinton ever did.  They just do not have the name recognition right now.  Name recognition is why one of the above women have not yet run for the presidency.  Perhaps one of these women will get the name recognition they need to run in 2020.