Forget former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the 2020 Democratic primary is now clearly the battle of the women candidates as both Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) picked up more major endorsements on Saturday.

Earlier this week, the New York Times surprisingly endorsed both Warren and Klobuchar, explaining that the decision is meant to highlight the need for an important fight within the Democratic Party between moderates and progressives. Regardless of which woman comes out on top to win the nomination, the editorial expressed confidence that either one would beat President Donald Trump in November.

When Warren emphatically stated during a Democratic debate earlier this month that a woman can beat Trump, the New York Times clearly heard her. And now the endorsements are piling up.

The Des Moines Register and the New Hampshire Union Leader have each published endorsements echoing the confidence of the Times that a woman can win whether it be Warren or Klobuchar.

On Saturday, the Des Moines Register officially endorsed Warren ahead of the Iowa caucus by pointing out that what our nation needs most right now is not only a candidate who can defeat Trump, but a candidate who will also reverse all of the damage Trump has done.

“Who would make the best president at this point in the country’s history?” the newspaper asked. “At a time when the economic deck has become so stacked against working Americans that the gap between rich and poor is the highest in more than 50 years? At a time when a generation of war has stressed military families and sapped the treasury? The Des Moines Register editorial board endorses Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses as the best leader for these times.”

“She believes access to health care is a human right,” the paper continued. “She would make climate change a top priority and use her executive power to roll back Trump administration policies that prop up fossil fuels. She says corporations should have less Washington influence, children should be protected from gun violence, child care should be affordable, immigrants deserve compassion, mass incarceration should end and the wealthy should pay more in taxes. Those ideas are not radical. They are right.”

“We need a president who can work the levers of government to translate ideas into signed laws and effective regulations,” the editorial explained. “We need a president committed to bringing our troops home from open-ended foreign entanglements. We need a president who understands that the American dream itself is at risk: the ideal that someone who works hard and plays by the rules can get ahead, and that their children will do even better. With Warren, the Oval Office will be occupied by someone who has made rebuilding the middle class her life’s work.”

“Warren’s competence, respect for others and status as the nation’s first female president would be a fitting response to the ignorance, sexism, and xenophobia of the Trump Oval Office,” the editorial concluded. “At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs.”

Just hours later, the New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed Klobuchar, setting the stage for a possible two-woman primary race.

“If there is to be any realistic challenge to Trump in November, the Democratic nominee needs to have a proven and substantial record of accomplishment across party lines, an ability to unite rather than divide, and the strength and stamina to go toe-to-toe with the Tweeter-in-Chief,” the newspaper wrote. “That would be U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She is sharp and witty, with a commanding understanding of both history and the inner workings of Capitol Hill.”

“Trump doesn’t want to face her. He is hoping for Bernie, Biden, Buttigieg or Warren. Each has weaknesses, whether of age, inexperience or a far-left agenda that thrills some liberals but is ripe for exploitation in a mainstream general election,” the Union Leader continued. “But can a woman be elected President? We say, of course, the right woman can and should be. By choosing Amy Klobuchar, New Hampshire primary voters can go a long way to proving it.”

Klobuchar would help Democrats win in the Midwest, especially crucial states such as Wisconsin and Michigan, which Trump won by a sliver in 2016. On the other hand, Warren’s progressive ideas are popular and her populism could drive the middle class and the poor to the polls like never before along with energizing the liberal base in a way that Hillary Clinton failed to do.

Judging by these endorsements, either candidate has a real shot at facing and beating Trump in November. But one thing is clear, the women are generating the most support so far while the male candidates lag behind.

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