WASHINGTON – Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in an interview Thursday night that she has faith a woman will be elected to the White House because women “persist.”

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pressed Warren about how people may feel about her dropping out, whether they were supporters or not.

“If Hillary Clinton can’t win when she gets the nomination, and then you can’t get the nomination, and neither can Kamala Harris and neither can Amy Klobuchar, and neither can Kirsten Gillibrand, I mean, I think part of what’s going on today, is women are the country are like, ‘OK, honestly, if it’s not one going to be any of them, let’s get real.’ Is it just that it can’t be woman ever?” Maddow asked. “Are we just going to run, you know, white men in their late seventies against each other, both parties, and that’s all we can agree to do?”

Maddow said Warren dropping out felt like a “death knell” of having a woman president in “our” lifetimes.

‘Element of misogyny’: Pelosi, others, lament that Warren exit leaves presidential race to men

Warren responded: “Oh god. Please no. That can’t be right.”

“This cannot be the right answer,” she continued.

Warren said she realized the importance of her campaign and eventually having a female president when she saw talked to all the women working her campaign headquarters Thursday after she dropped out.

They said, “Thank you for being smart and making that OK. Thank you for talking over men sometimes, because I’m damn tired of always having it go the other way.”

Warren said it’s going to be “a little longer” before a woman is elected president. 

“We’ll know we can have a woman in the White House when we finally elect a woman to the White House!” she exclaimed, later noting that critics in the past dismissed a Catholic being elected until former President John F. Kennedy and they claimed the United States would not elect a black man until former President Barack Obama. 

‘We are all Bailey’: Elizabeth Warren’s dog goes viral after stealing a burrito 

Warren said women “persist.”

It is a nod to the tagline “Nevertheless she persisted,” a comment by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., referring to Warren’s objection to Trump’s appointment of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. It became a rallying cry for many Democrats.

“We can’t lose hope over this. We can’t lose hope because the only way we make change is we get back up tomorrow we get back in the fight,” Warren said of her ending her candidacy 

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-HI., is the only female candidate left in the 2020 race, though she only has received two delegates since the primary season has started from American Samoa. She has not polled above 1% in any recent national surveys. 

When Warren gaggled with reporters shortly after she dropped out Thursday morning, she said said a question about sexism playing a role in her leaving the race was a “trap question” for any woman to answer.

“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 think, ‘What planet do you live on?’ I promise you this: I’ll have a lot more to say on that subject later on.”

Contributing: Joey Garrison

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/03/05/elizabeth-warren-we-persist-woman-becoming-president-maddow-interview/4970767002/