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Democrats don鈥檛 like U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. There鈥檚 not much nuance you need to know about that. But a few Democratic candidates for president, and one of the groups most strongly opposed to DeVos, are putting an interesting twist on their attacks on one of Trump鈥檚 longest-serving, most-divisive cabinet members.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has been relatively aggressive about using this strategy recently. During a CNN town hall Thursday, she of being inaugurated (receiving a hearty round of applause), and her campaign on social media. In a released last month about the first 100 days of her presidency, Klobuchar pledged to do fire DeVos, among other things.
(Interestingly, if you look at Klobuchar鈥檚 plan for her first 100 days that she released in June, . Klobuchar does, however, promise to treat education civil rights quite and other issues very differently from DeVos.)
Klobuchar isn鈥檛 the only one to take this approach, however. Jill Biden, the wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, promised that her husband鈥檚 administration during a Monday interview on MSNBC. Joe Biden is of saying and that . Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said several months ago that . And before he dropped out of the race, former congressman Beto O鈥橰ourke stressed .
If a Democrat wins the presidency this year, he or she is going to pick a new cabinet. That鈥檚 what new presidents do and it鈥檚 what鈥檚 expected of them. A promise to 鈥渇ire鈥� DeVos or any cabinet secretary seems like a redundancy, particularly when bipartisan cooperation and goodwill is at a very low ebb.
By the same token, there isn鈥檛 any discernable reason DeVos would want to work for a Democratic administration in 2021 that would seek to cultivate teachers鈥� unions and other advocates for traditional public schools that have opposed DeVos since she became education secretary, if not longer. There鈥檚 no reason to think DeVos would want to survive any Democratic clear-out of the White House. And even if Trump is re-elected, cabinet positions often turn over in a president鈥檚 second term; if she would stay on as secretary beyond Trump鈥檚 first term.
Still, such rhetoric does remind Democratic voters how the respective candidates would move sharply away from Trump鈥檚 agenda. And a poll released Friday by Yahoo showed that among nine prominent Trump administration officials, . That鈥檚 with about DeVos.
A Biden campaign official we spoke with said the former vice president鈥檚 team is particularly keen to contrast , Joe Biden鈥檚 experience, and their support for public education with DeVos鈥� support for private schools and lack of background working in public schools.
Warren鈥檚 campaign, meanwhile, pointed out that the senator has consistently opposed the education secretary since DeVos鈥� 2017 confirmation hearing, well before the 2020 campaign. The campaign cited Warren鈥檚 creation on her official Senate page of 鈥淒eVos Watch鈥� (a site criticizing the secretary鈥檚 actions), as well as Warren鈥檚 belief that who gets appointed to government positions is an important reflection of policy priorities.
DeVos and 鈥楬arsh Rhetoric鈥�
William Howell, a professor of politics at the University of Chicago who studies education, cautioned that despite the negative approval ratings and attention she gets in some quarters, DeVos is still not generally well-known among the general public. However, he added, 鈥淲ithin the context of a primary, people who are politically attentive and are liberal don鈥檛 think highly of her. This is a way to signal what [Democratic candidates鈥橾 domestic policy priorities are, with this harsh rhetoric.鈥�
DeVos鈥� has campaigned for Trump鈥檚 reelection bid in places like and ; in Howell鈥檚 view, such events are routine for cabinet secretaries, regardless of how much the opposing party might deride them.
What about other factors that conceivably go into the Democrats鈥� broadsides against her? It鈥檚 hard to know if these sorts of attacks are rooted in the fact that DeVos is a high-profile woman in politics, Howell noted. But he also said it鈥檚 pretty clear in general that women in such positions are 鈥渕ore likely called out for their perceived inexperienced or perceived blunders than are men.鈥�
Democrats鈥� strategy regarding DeVos appears unusual if not unique when it comes to Trump鈥檚 cabinet secretaries. Search for calls to and your screen will fill up quickly; do the same for calls to fire Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (no stranger to controversial headlines these days), or Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and you鈥檒l get very different results.
The National Education Association, one of DeVos鈥� biggest critics, is urging people to The teachers鈥� union told us it kicked off that particular campaign earlier this week; it . For context, that was after Jill Biden鈥檚 remarks on TV but before Klobuchar鈥檚 CNN town hall promise and social media post.
As we鈥檝e noted before, DeVos has taken on unusual prominence in the Democratic primary for some time. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg , a fact we asked him about last year.
Democrats used DeVos as a boogeywoman in the 2018 midterm elections.
Photo: President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with his pick for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, during a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2016. (Paul Sancya/AP)