Like many women, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez found yesterday tough.

While the New York congresswoman has long-endorsed Bernie Sanders as her choice for Democratic presidential nominee, she still found it difficult to watch Elizabeth Warren suspend her campaign.

“Today is a hard day for so many people who love and respect @ewarren and admire her campaign – and I include myself in that,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter.

“Elizabeth Warren is a progressive lion, a champion for working families, and her commitment to inclusivity is exemplary. Thank you for being a role model.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments mirrored the general mood. People, mostly women, shared their despair over the fact that yet another smart, talented politician had been dismissed; the most diverse group of presidential candidates in history, whittled down to two white men past their prime.

“It hurts that we probably won’t see a woman president in my lifetime because people will find a mutable metric to vote for literally anyone but a deeply qualified woman with a clearly articulated vision for change,” author Roxane Gay tweeted. “This is so heartbreaking, and it feels so damn personal,” feminist writer Jill Filipovic said. 

As one of the most talented and experienced politicians in the race, Warren’s failure to perform simply did not add up. Her defeat must, at least in part, come down to gender as Democratic voters, desperate to beat Trump, have struggled to grapple with her so-called “electability”.

Warren knows this but she’s also smart enough to know this is a trap. At a press conference, she said: “If you say, ‘Yeah, there was sexism in this race,’ everyone says, ‘Whiner!’ And if you say, ‘No, there was no sexism,’ about a bazillion women say ‘What planet do you live on?’”

When asked about her message to women and girls who now had two elderly white men to choose between, Warren replied: “One of the hardest parts of this are all those pinky promises, and all those little girls who are going to have to wait four more years.”

It is a credit to Warren’s optimism and persistence that she – despite having more reason than anyone not to – still believes that we could, in four years’ time, have a woman in the White House.

Asking about the despair some women feel, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said: “I think part of what’s going on today is women around the country are like… is it just that it can’t be any woman ever? I think there’s a feeling that your campaign ending is very specific to you and it also feels a little bit like a death in terms of the prospects of having a woman for president in our lifetime?” 

“Oh, God, please, no,” Warren replied. “That can’t be right. This cannot be the right answer and part of the reason I know it is not the right answer is that I was walking through my headquarters today and saw all of those strong, powerful women.”

Warren continued, “I saw all those women who said thank you for standing up to Bloomberg. I saw all those women who said, thank you for being smart and making that okay. Thank you for talking over men sometimes because I’m just damn tired of always having it go the other way.

“It’s one of the hardest parts about this: all those pinky promises. All those little girls were going to do this. It’s just going to be a little longer before we’re able to have a woman in the White House but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen soon.”

Image: Getty