Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
All donations doubled!

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • The full PUMP Act is now in effect. Here’s what it does for lactating parents.

        Chabeli Carrazana · April 28
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • A train derailment spilled toxic chemicals in her Ohio town. Now she’s running for mayor.

        Jessica Kutz · November 6
      • This Delaware candidate could be the first transgender member of Congress

        Orion Rummler · June 26
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How guns and domestic violence intersect in a Supreme Court case

        Jennifer Gerson · November 1
      • The 19th Explains: What to know about Ohio Issue 1

        Grace Panetta · October 16
      • The 19th Explains: The groundwork for a Supreme Court case on gender-affirming care is being laid now

        Orion Rummler · October 12
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      The State of Our Nation

    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Voting organizers are breathing ‘a deep sigh of relief’ over Supreme Court rulings on elections — for now

        Barbara Rodriguez · July 6
      • Ranked-choice voting is gaining momentum. So are efforts to stop it.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 24
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Fall Member Drive

Support the nonprofit news you trust through the critical moments that shape our democracy and our lives.

Donate Today

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A woman asks a question at Donald Trump's town hall in Miami.
A person asks a question to President Donald Trump during an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in Miami. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Politics

How Trump and Biden’s dueling town halls addressed women’s concerns

There were minimal mentions of issues that disproportionately impact women, though Biden’s town hall saw the first question about LGBTQ+ rights.

By

Abby Johnston, Shefali Luthra, Andrea Valdez

Published

2020-10-15 22:29
10:29
October 15, 2020
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

In many ways, the second “presidential debate” could not have been more different than the first.

To start, it was not a debate. The initial town hall event with both President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden was canceled after the president refused to meet virtually, a request made after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on October 2. Instead, the two candidates held competing town halls Thursday on their respective home turfs — Trump in Florida, Biden in Pennsylvania — at the same time on different networks.

The split screen effect created an opportunity to see Biden and Trump interact with voters instead of each other, a contrast to the first debate, when they sparred in an abrasive exchange that will long be remembered for the president’s refusal to denounce white supremacy.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

In Biden’s town hall, of the 11 people to ask questions, only four were women. There were no questions about America’s first female recession, child care, education or reproductive health — all issues that disproportionately affect women voters.

His town hall did, however, mark a milestone in the campaign: it was the first presidential debate event to explicitly focus on issues affecting LGBTQ+ Americans.

The first such question, from Democratic voter Nathan Osburn, hinged upon Amy Coney Barrett’s impending Supreme Court confirmation. Osburn asked how Biden would address the concerns of LGBTQ+ people who are “very worried right now about erosions of their rights.” 

Barrett’s ties to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is designated as a hate group, has raised concerns among many LGBTQ+ people. Barrett has also misgendered transgender people and referred to sexual orientation as a “preference” — which some worry could suggest a rejection of sexual and gender minorities as a class of people to be protected under law.

“I think there’s a great reason to be concerned for the LGBT community. Something I’ve fought very hard for for a long time to make sure there’s equality across the board,” Biden said. The rest of his answer pivoted away from LGBTQ+ issues or protections, though, to focus on other implications if Barrett is confirmed, including the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Later in the evening, Mieke Haeck, a mother of two, asked Biden about what he would do to specifically to protect transgender people whose rights, she said, had “been attacked” under the Trump administration.

Biden said he would eliminate executive orders the Trump administration has issued to undercut federal protections for transgender people. 

“There should be zero discimination. Too many trans women of color are being murdered, they are being murdered,” Biden said. “It’s up to, now, 17? Don’t hold me that number but it’s — it’s higher now?”

At least 33 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been murdered in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Most were Black or Latinx.

Trump, in contrast, received question after question from women voters in Miami Thursday night. Out of the 10 questions from the audience at the town hall, eight of them came from women — including a mother and daughter who approached the president together, leaning toward Biden and Trump, respectively. 

Half of the questions from women were about health care, ranging from the pandemic to the future of abortion access. 

During the president’s first town hall since contracting coronavirus, his answers surrounding the virus echoed earlier talking points, including touting his early travel ban from China when COVID initially surfaced. Trump — who has been reticent to wear masks in public throughout the pandemic — told voters that his position on the importance of wearing them had changed little since his own diagnosis. He said that though he was “OK with masks,” he had heard “many different stories on masks.”

As the future of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision securing abortion access, was on many people’s minds during Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination proceedings, Trump did not say that he would prefer to overturn it outright. Moriah Greene, a “pro-life millennial” who is leaning toward voting for Trump, asked the president what protections he would put in place for people with high-risk pregnancies should Roe v. Wade be overturned. 

Instead, Trump put the onus back on Barrett, his nominee.

“I would like to see a brilliant jurist, a brilliant person who has done this in great depth … make a decision, and that’s why I chose her. I think that she’s going to make a great decision. I did not tell her what decision to make,” he said.

But his toughest line of questioning came from moderator Savannah Guthrie. With only an hour of airtime, including commercial breaks, Guthrie took 20 minutes at the top of the broadcast to question the president about the timeline of his COVID diagnosis, which he could not offer complete clarity on, and the conspiracy theory collective QAnon, which the president claimed to know nothing about other than they are “very against pedophilia.” 

Guthrie also managed to get the president to answer a question left lingering from his last debate with Biden: Would he denounce white supremacy? 

When Guthrie pressed him on why he wouldn’t denounce white supremacy outright just weeks ago, Trump chalked the lack of clarity up to a media narrative. 

“Why aren’t you asking Joe Biden questions about ‘why doesn’t he condemn Antifa?’” Trump asked.

“Because you’re here,” Guthrie answered. To which Trump added: “So cute.”

Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Ko Bragg, Chabeli Carrazana, Errin Haines, Mariel Padilla, Barbara Rodriguez and Kate Sosin.

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Fall Member Drive

Support the nonprofit news you trust through the critical moments that shape our democracy and our lives.

Donate Today

Up Next

Election 2020

Has Susan Collins changed? Or have the rest of us?

Maine’s longtime Republican senator is fighting to survive in a political climate remade by Trump, his Supreme Court picks and a nationalized Senate election.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Ways to Give
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram