From secretary to CEO. This is the slogan that Carly Fiorina is gaining support from all over the country with. The Republican candidate, who was previously best known for being the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, is working hard to prove that she should be taken seriously in Washington.
Fiorina attended Stanford University for her undergraduate degree, majoring in Medieval history and philosophy. She attended UCLA School of Law in 1976 but left after one semester when she realized she didn’t want to be a lawyer. After leaving UCLA, Fiorina took at job at Marcus & Millichap as a receptionist, working up to a broker. Fiorina realized her passion was business, and attended the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She joined AT&T as a management trainee, working her way up to senior vice president. Fiorina led the 1995 spinoff of Lucent from AT&T, including the largest IPO in history at the time. In 1998 Fortune Magazine named Fiorina “The Most Powerful Woman in Business” and in 1999 she was hired as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
The New York Times broke down her stances on major issues when she announced her candidacy in May. She believes that the U.S. should not lift sanctions against Iran until Tehran agrees to stricter terms on a nuclear deal. Fiorina believes tighter border control would help with the immigration issue.
In regards to same sex marriage, Fiorina does not endorse same-sex marriages, but supports granting government benefits to same-sex couples. Another one of her views that differs from most Republicans is her stance on the environment. While most Republicans deny that humans are contributing to global warming, Fiorina believes that international agreements with countries like China need to be made to lower carbon emissions.
Fiorina believes that reducing government regulations, not raising the federal minimum wage, and reducing the federal work force would all help to stimulate the economy.
NBC’s senior political reporter, Perry Bacon Jr. has predicted that Fiorina won’t be able to win the nomination for the presidency, but she may be able to lock down the nomination for the vice presidency. Although she is a savvy businesswoman, she has never held an elected office before. She ran an unsuccessful race for U.S. Senate in California. Fiorina believes while some people may see this as a drawback, she sees it as an advantage. She believes that Americans are tired of career politicians and her background in business will be an asset for her campaign. Bacon also says that Republicans are excited to see Fiorina and Hillary Clinton go head to head in debates, and see how Fiorina will rebut Clinton’s statements about women’s role in society.
“Because I am a woman, there are many things she can’t say. She can’t play the gender card. She can’t talk about being the first woman president. She can’t talk about the war on women,” Fiorina said.
Most recently Donald Trump blasted Fiorina in the media. Trump was quoted in Rolling Stone commenting about Fiorina saying. “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” Trump said. “Can you imagine that, the face of our next president.” He followed by saying, “ I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not s’posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?”
Trump claims that he was talking about her persona and time as a CEO, not her appearance. Fiorina shrugged off the comments and said she didn’t know what Trump meant but,” Maybe, just maybe, I’m getting under his skin a little bit, because I am climbing in the polls.”
