A crowd of about 150, predominantly women, gathered Sunday afternoon at the Holiday Inn for what was billed as Power Women 2.0, the winter fundraiser for the Lycoming Women Democrats.

Now in its second year, the event was initially started to raise money for the Kay Ertel Scholarship Fund, according to Linda Sosniak, president of the group and organizer of the event, which also highlighted the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in this country.

Representatives for Democratic presidential candidates as well as candidates on the ballot for state offices brought their messages to those attending.

Noting that both Democrats and Republicans were invited to attend, Sosniak said:

“I truly believe that we need to put party aside and that we need to listen to what the candidates have to say.

“We have to reach out and help the poorer and weaker people in our communities and make it a better place for them to live. I think, if we do that and put party aside, I think people will see what value the candidates have and what they have to offer,” she continued. “I think there are too many tags and labels put on the parties.”

The afternoon began with a video highlighting the journey of women in the suffrage movement.

Many of the speakers emphasized the significant role that women play in the political system and also the barriers they still face.

County Commissioner Rick Mirabito, who spoke at the event, noted the number of younger people.

“I see the young people who are going to step up and run this community in the future and that makes me hopeful for change,” Mirabito said.

Referencing the video, Mirabito noted that the women’s suffrage movement didn’t bring about change overnight.

“It was 70 years, but the point is that it happened,” he said.

“Frederick Douglass reminds us there can be no progress if there is not struggle,” he added. “Our struggle is every day, it’s around us. History teaches us to appreciate how hard others fought so we have the right to sit in this room.”

“Struggle is understanding how to communicate and not alienate or marginalize ourselves. If all we do is elect women to office or African-Americans to office and we don’t change the underlying power structure, then what we will have is the same power structures with different faces,” Mirabito said.

Anne Wakabayashi, state strategist for Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, told the group that, in working with women seeking to run for office, she has noted “entrenched structures and systemic barriers” for women as well as minorities.

“Big money interests, big corporate lobbyists, corruption in our government has stood in the way of folks like you and me being able to make a difference in our government,” she said.

The representative of Joe Biden’s campaign, Keith Bierly, prefaced his comments with how much he likes and respects the other Democratic presidential candidates and would vote for any of them.

Bierly contended, however, that his candidate has the greatest chance of being elected.

“It’s not going to be an easy race. I think it’s absolutely important that, as the vice president says, we get the character of this country back to where it needs to be,” he said.

Manny Baez, a representative of the Pete Buttigieg campaign, stated that there is a “crisis of belonging” in the country right now.

“As president, he (Buttigieg) would focus on finding the American experience in terms of belonging, not exclusion,” Baez said.

Other candidates who spoke were: Lee Griffin, candidate for US Congress District 12; Airneezer Page-Bingham, candidate for state house District 83, Scott Conklin and Christine Hartman, candidates for state Auditor General; and Michelle Siegel, candidate for state senate District 27.