Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential candidate from the Democratic Party announced his running mate to be Kamala Harris thus making this senator from California, the first Black woman and first woman of Asia-American origin to run for the post on a majority party ticket. This year marks the 100th anniversary of American women winning suffrage. Till now, no woman has served as the president or the vice-president of America ever. This wasn’t due to lack of trying as women have been running for the highest office since they received suffrage. Here’s a list of some women who vied for the post of the vice-president.
- Mariette Stow- In 1884, while women still didn’t have the voting rights, Stow, a newspaper owner of California nominated Belva Lockwood to run for the presidential post as she competed for the post of VP. Lockwood had pointed out that while women couldn’t vote, “there is no law against their being voted for”. They campaigned vigorously and won around 5000 votes cast by men.
- Lena Springs- A suffrage leader from South Carolina, Springs joined active politics from the Democratic Party after the 19th amendment was passed in 1920. She chaired the credentials committee at the Democratic National Convention of 1924 where she was utterly surprised when she was nominated by the delegates to run for the post of the VP. She received large numbers of votes but couldn’t win the election.
- Charlotta Bass- Bass became the first black woman candidate to run for the VP on the ticket of the progressive party in 1952. She had already established herself as a prominent newspaper publisher as she owned the California Eagle. She was disappointed as both the majority parties ignored female and Black rights and joined the progressive party. She and her running mate won 140,000 votes but lost the election.
- Frances ‘Sissy’ Farenthold- She was an experienced politician who had served four years in the Texas House of Representatives and had run for the Governor in 1972. At the Democratic National Convention, she was nominated by feminist leader Gloria Steinem to run for the VP. She was a serious contender but lost the elections.
- Toni Nathan- She was the first female vice-presidential candidate who received an electoral vote in 1972 when she ran on the Libertarian Ticket. Nathan was an Oregon television and radio producer.
- LaDonna Harris- She became the first woman of Native American origin who ran for the vice-presidential post in 1980 on a ticket by the Citizens Party. She was a member of the Comanche nation and an activist. In the 1970s, she had also been a force for the indigenous affairs of Washington.
- Angela Davis- She was a Black activist and a professor of philosophy at California and was on the FBI’s most-wanted list. She ran on a Communist party ticket in 1980 and 1984 and secured less than 1 per cent of the votes with the presidential candidate.
Geraldine Ferraro, Emma Wong Mar, Winona LaDuke and Sarah Palin were some other female candidates who ran for the post of the U.S. vice-president.
