The Man Party and the Woman Party

This weekend I voted — proudly, enthusiastically, and happily — for Hillary Clinton. It’s my third vote for Hillary this year, because Washington state is weird and has both a caucus and a primary.

I was struck this election by just how many women I voted for — more women than men. In many races, the choice was between a Republican man and a Democratic woman. It looked almost as if our parties are actually the Man party and the Woman party. (Even in the non-partisan races you could tell the party affiliation of most candidates.)

I voted for Pramila Jayapal to represent Washington’s 7th Congressional District. She’ll replace the retiring Jim McDermott. I voted for Patty Murray, Gael Tarleton, Noel Frame, Tina Podlodowski, Pat McCarthy, Hilary Franz, Mary Yu, and Barbara Madsen. (I’m forgetting some of the races, surely — the actual list is longer.)

It feels, surprisingly, like a big relief. I’m a 48-year-old straight white male who’s done pretty well in life — which makes me part of the traditional ruling class, I suppose. It felt amazingly good to help make it so that people like me don’t have to be in charge of every damn thing. Why should we be? Why would we even want to?

PS How awesome is Mary Yu. She’s a judge with a name that sounds like “marry you” — and she opened her court at midnight to perform the first same-sex marriages in Washington State.