King County Library Author Event: Electable by Ali Vitali September 24, 2024

Electable by Ali Vitali

Tuesday, September 24, 6:30-7:30pm

Register here for this online event

Join KCLS for a special author talk with NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali. She will discuss her 2022 book, Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman In the White House…Yet

The political landscape was shaken to its core when President Joe Biden announced he would be stepping down from re-election. 

Not only was the announcement unprecedented, it thrust Vice President Kamala Harris into the spotlight as the presumptive Democratic nominee, marking the second time Republican candidate Donald Trump will face off against a female candidate.

The road to the Election Day is long, but can a woman finally break the glass ceiling and win the White House?

Opening with the moment when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were finally declared the winners of the 2020 race, Electable is a sweeping look at a lingering question from that Presidential race. Why, when we saw more women run for President of the United States than ever before, did we still not cross that final hurdle?

Woven throughout is close examination of the treatment of Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, Shirley Chisholm and those on the right. 

Grappling with ideas around the “likeability” and “electability” issues, as well as fundraising hurdles many female candidates face, Vitali asks the same questions she and so many have been grappling with for decades, but especially since Hillary Clinton’s defeat in 2016: Why is it so hard for a woman to be taken seriously as a presidential contender? 

What will it take for men and women to be held to the same standard? What happens next?

The King County Library System Executive Director Heidi Daniel will host the conversation. Ask questions about the book, the state of politics and insights from Vitali’s national reporting.

Vitali is based in Washington, DC and is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for NBC News. She covered the 2020 presidential campaign, reporting on the campaigns of President Biden, Vice President Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren and others. She also covered the Donald Trump White House and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.