This time last year, the Democratic presidential field was shaping up to be the most diverse in history, with contenders who were men and women and black and white and Latino and straight and gay and baby boomers and millennials.
This week, save for one longshot candidate, it's down to two septuagenarian, heterosexual white men vying to take on another septuagenarian, heterosexual white man.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, once seen as a strong contender to win the Democratic presidential nomination, on Thursday announced she's suspending her campaign, dealing a gut-punch to her supporters, especially women who saw Warren as a candidate with whom they could identify. Many of those voters felt rejuvenated by the political gains women made in 2018, thinking 2020 might be their shot at seeing a woman in the Oval Office.
Among the top-tier contenders who aren't white men, Warren held on the longest.
Now, for some Democratic women, the newly winnowed field feels like a letdown that evokes similar feelings of sadness and defeat to when Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party, lost in the general election in 2016.
"Many of us weren't surprised to see a well-qualified woman yet again finish behind men," state Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-Del., who endorsed Warren, said. "But it was still disappointing to see it."
Krueger and other Warren supporters are trying to figure out what's next in their quest to see the highest glass ceiling broken. Ahead of the Pennsylvania primary, still two months away, some say they plan to vote for Bernie Sanders, whose progressive message and stance on universal healthcare align closely with Warren's. Some will vote for Joe Biden because, they surmise, his moderation might play better in the general election and deliver Democrats the best chance to defeat President Donald Trump.
Other voters are waiting to see who those men choose as a running mate _ a woman has also never served as vice president _ while they grapple with the anger and disappointment of watching their chance to see a woman win the presidency slip away for the second time in four years.
Jada Gossett, a 24-year-old Drexel University graduate who lives in Upper Darby, Pa., supported both Warren and Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who dropped out of the race the day before Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden. Gossett said she'll likely vote for Sanders come the Pennsylvania primary, but she's not jazzed about it.
More upsetting, she said, is that _ save for Tulsi Gabbard, who has won just one delegate thus far _ women and people of color are gone from the race.
"Any opportunity to diversify the field and empower people who have not previously had such kind of power makes a difference," Gossett said. "I just don't see why we need another old, white guy who's out of touch and who has never experienced any real kind of systemic hardships."
In assessing why the field was whittled down mostly to men, Gossett and others blamed a variety of factors, sexism and misogyny chief among them.
"I think, for lack of a better way to phrase it, I think it's because she's a woman," said Morley McCaul, a 24-year-old Warren supporter who lives in West Chester, Pa. "She hasn't gotten enough media attention. She's been tossed out."
Research shows that while few voters admit they wouldn't vote for a woman for president, sexism and gender-based stereotypes permeate the campaign trail, whether it's in the language used to describe female candidates _ unlikable, shrill, overly ambitious _ or the constant questioning of their electability vs. a man.
Speaking to reporters outside her home in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, Warren briefly addressed what role gender might have played in the race and promised she'll "have a lot more to say on that subject."
"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?'" she said.
Monica D'Antonio, a Democrat who lives in West Norriton, Pa., said she guessed some voters felt innately that a man might be better suited to stand up to Trump in a head-to-head, never mind that some of the most headline-grabbing debate moments in recent weeks were because of Warren and Klobuchar. She also defended supporting female candidates with the same or better qualifications as the male candidates.
"We're 51% of the population," D'Antonio said, "and I'm sort of tired of hearing people say 'Oh, you're just voting for her because she's a woman,' as if it's not important to represent 51% of the population."
D'Antonio, 39, who sits on her local school board, said she isn't certain who she'll vote for come the Pennsylvania primary, but plans to support whichever Democrat takes on Trump.
She also hopes both Sanders and Biden "wise up and pick a woman running mate."
Both Sanders and Biden have been tight-lipped about who they might select to run alongside them, but among the oddsmakers and the pundit class, women and people of color top the list for both. Several of the names bubbling up are women who themselves ran for president, including Warren, Klobuchar and Sen. Kamala Harris, as well as former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Beth Finn, who campaigned for Warren for months and hoped to represent her as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention this summer, said there must be a woman on the presidential ticket alongside whatever Democrat wins the nomination "for the sake of the country."
Finn, 43, who lives in Philadelphia's Washington Square West section and last year lost a bid for a seat on Philadelphia City Council, said she hopes women continue to run for president because "every crack we put in the glass ceiling gets us closer."
"Eventually one of us is gonna be president. I want to see that," she said. "It's frustrating, but we have to fight, right? We can't give up. Just because we didn't win doesn't mean the battle is over."
Finn hasn't decided who she's going to vote for in the primary and is waiting to see what Warren and her campaign say. During the emotional news conference Thursday, Warren declined to endorse Biden or Sanders. She said the field narrowing to two men was "one of the hardest parts" about dropping out.
"And all those little girls," she said through tears, "are gonna have to wait four more years."
Gossett, voting this year in just her second presidential election, says it's worth waiting for.
"I think we're getting closer," she said.
