2020 Dems pick walkout songs at annual Iowa celebration

As 2020 presidential hopefuls flocked to Iowa this weekend, the walkout songs their campaigns chose for an annual Democratic dinner sent messages about their platforms, priorities and life stories. 

Lissandra Villa, a politics reporter at Time Magazine, tweeted a  list of songs the campaigns selected to be played before 19 of the primary candidates spoke at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Hall of Fame celebration. 

{mosads}Most of the candidates chose songs that signaled high hopes for their campaigns. Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), for example, chose “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers, “Good as Hell” by Lizzo and “Work That” by Mary J. Blige, respectively.  

Other optimistic choices included songs like Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s (D-Hawaii) pick, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and “Never Giving Up” by Batchelor for South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) focused on workers, picking “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and “Power to the People” by John Lennon, respectively.

Several candidates focused on rural areas, with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) choosing “Small Town” by John Mellencamp, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) picking “Caught Up in the Country” by Rodney Atkins and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) selecting Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”

The British Punk band The Clash got two nods from 2020 candidates: Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) picked the band’s “Clampdown” and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio chose “Rudie Can’t Fail.”

You can read the full list here:

Here is the walk-out song playlist for the candidates at the Iowa Democrats Hall of Fame campaign yesterday. The songs were chosen by the campaigns. pic.twitter.com/Aphykxt322

— Lissandra Villa (@LissandraVilla) June 10, 2019