The progressive women’s advocacy group UltraViolet is attacking former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and boosting Sen. Elizabeth Warren ahead of Wednesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate.
UltraViolet perceives a sexism problem in the 2020 election and in mainstream media coverage, which it wants to help solve by blocking Mr. Bloomberg from the televised debate and amplifying the Massachusetts Democrat’s voice instead.
“Michael Bloomberg’s shameful public refusal to release former Bloomberg employees from non-disclosure agreements pertaining to sexual harassment and workplace abuse should be a wake up call to all 2020 presidential candidates,” said Shauna Thomas, UltraViolet Action co-founder and president, in a statement. “Forcing people who have endured harassment or abuse to stay silent for the sake of saving face on the campaign trail is unacceptable.”
Ms. Thomas added, “We don’t need any surprises in the 2020 election — and the Democratic National Committee should require, as a matter of policy, all presidential candidates to have [to] release all former and current employees from non-disclosure agreements as a prerequisite for getting on the Democratic presidential primary debate stage.”
Ms. Thomas also called on MSNBC and NBC News, hosts of Wednesday’s Democratic debate, to provide equal talking time to Ms. Warren, who was excluded from a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of head-to-head matchups with President Trump. Ms. Thomas said she views Ms. Warren as a “front-runner” for the nomination despite her failure to win either of the first two Democratic presidential primary contests.
“Failing to provide fair, equal and bias-free coverage for all the Democratic nominees does the voters of this country a terrible disservice and encourages a culture of refusing to recognize and respect women as leaders,” Ms. Thomas said. “MSNBC and NBC News have a chance to rectify this injustice tonight by ensuring that Warren, like all of the other candidates on the stage, is given equal time to advocate for her ideas.”
Ms. Thomas argued that inequitable media coverage of presidential candidates has affected previous elections and must not happen in 2020.
UltraViolet has previously spearheaded an #AskForWomen pledge demanding a female moderator at every Democratic presidential debate, and organized a coalition of left-leaning groups including MoveOn Political Action, NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Women’s March to urge media companies to adhere to its requests.
To UltraViolet’s satisfaction, women moderators have subsequently been present at the Democratic debates. Whether the Democratic National Committee abides by the latest push from UltraViolet appears far less likely.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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