If You Are An Advocate For The Women's Movement, You Should Be An Advocate For The Violence Against Women Act. It really is that simple. The truth of the matter is, we have a lot of Democratic candidates running in 2020, and we are getting a lot closer to the Iowa Caucuses. Most of the candidates have released their plans. Most of the candidates, which might surprise you all, do NOT publicly state their support for a prompt, comprehensive renewal of the Violence Against Women Act. 

Will you join me in demanding transparency from our candidates? Where do they stand on reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act? 

Tonight, I emailed major candidates running for the Democratic nomination who have not publicly stated their support for reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and demanded their positions either be clarified, or publicly reaffirmed for the American people. (This excludes Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar).  Here's what I found out. 

Pete Buttigieg DOES support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on his website. However, I cannot recall any public event where he has affirmed his support with the urgency this legislation deserves. 

Bernie Sanders DOES support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on his website. However, I cannot recall any public event where he has affirmed his support with the urgency this legislation deserves. 

Elizabeth Warren does NOT support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on her website. 

Julian Castro DOES support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on his website. However, I cannot recall any public event where he has affirmed his support with the urgency this legislation deserves. 

Cory Booker does NOT support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on her website. 

Kamala Harris does NOT support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on her website. 

Andrew Yang does NOT support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on her website. 

Without making the Violence Against Women Act as a whole a priority as president, all of the candidates do share an affinity for one aspect of the VAWA: the boyfriend loophole. 

That's good. That's important. Domestic violence and gun violence are highly correlated, and the boyfriend loophole will help combat this issue. But without supporting the Violence Against Women Act in its entirety, our candidate is not doing everything he or she can to take on this issue. 

So, will you join me in demanding transparency from our candidates? Where do they stand on reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act? 

Email them. Tweet them. Send them letters. Demand transparency until it is given to you. That's the gift of living in a democracy.