Political commentator Van Jones expressed shock during a CNN special Tuesday night that a Democratic woman did not vote for Hillary Clinton because of her gender.
Jones, a former White House czar in the Obama administration, spoke with voters Derinda and Scott Seitz in his special on the 2016 election, titled "The Messy Truth With Van Jones." Seitz and Derinda are both Democrats from Iowa who did not vote for the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Seitz voted for Donald Trump while Derinda declined to cast her ballot for either presidential candidate. Jones sat down with the pair during the special to discuss their decisions.
"I'm very curious about you," Jones said to Derinda. "You voted for every Democrat on the ballot, but when it came to the presidency, what'd you do?"
Derinda said she did not vote for anyone to the surprise of Jones, who then rhetorically asked, "You didn't vote for anybody?"
In shock, Jones exclaimed, "But you are a woman, and you are a Democratic woman! And Hillary Clinton, as best I can tell, is a woman! I don't get it!"
"She scared me. Donald scared me," Derinda explained. "My morals could not allow me to. Like I told you, she did her job in making me not want to vote for Trump–all those scary things about what he says. But she did not do her job in showing me why I should vote for her."
Derinda's words appeared to have an effect on Jones.
"Wow. Well, I mean, that's a heartbreaker I think for a lot of Democrats to hear," he said.