From left, POLITICO National Editor Kristin Roberts is joined by Karen Finney of Hillary for America; Sarah Isgur Flores of Carly for President; Margie Omero of Purple Strategies; Nicolle Wallace, former communications director under President George W. Bush; and Simone L. Ward of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the “Tales from the Trail: Women and the 2016 Campaigns” panel during POLITICO’s Women Rule third annual summit. Karen Finney: Progress made since Clinton's last presidential election

Should female candidates be playing off the stereotypes of being a woman on the campaign trail? It depends which campaign you ask.

Karen Finney, a senior spokesperson for Hillary for America, said she still feels an excitement about having Hillary Clinton run but believes progress has been made since Clinton’s first presidential run in 2008.


“I do think it’s a sign of progress that it’s not so novel,” Finney said at POLITICO's Women Rule event in Washington on Thursday.

“I sort of bristle when people say Hillary is running as a woman because — she kind of is [a woman],” Finney said.

But at the time, she has no problem if a voter says he or she likes the Democratic front-runner because she is a good mother.

Finney said there's nothing wrong with playing up the fact that women tend to be more conciliatory and collaborative in governing style. She added that people have to figure out what works for them.

But Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokesperson for Republican hopeful Carly Fiorina, said candidates shouldn’t be playing off the fact that the candidate is a woman. Instead they should play off other experiences that make them unique as a person.

“Part of the problem is saying ‘because you belong to this group you have to have all these attributes,’” said Isgur Flores, who was also speaking at the Women Rule event. “There is nothing stereotypical about either [Clinton or Fiorina]," she added.

Isgur Flores said that people should focus on being “authentically you,” pointing out that the place where she grew up — Texas — played a huge role in the type of person she has become.