The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates — bless their hearts — have a real affinity for a particular type of punctuation. And no — it's not the semicolon.

It makes sense that politicians seeking the presidency would be so into the em dash: It's sleek, long, and powerful, inevitably connoting importance and urgency. On Twitter, candidates want voters to know they're serious about the issues — so serious, in fact, that they're willing to use the punchiest piece of punctuation to talk about them.

It should be noted that I am not against the em dash. In fact, I love to use it, particularly because I finally learned the keyboard shortcut a few weeks ago. Sometimes an em dash simply enhances a piece's voice in a way that a comma, period, or colon can't. (We don't speak in perfect prose; sometimes we speak in strings of asides. In some cases, that approach works better for writing, too.) Despite the em dash's controversial reputation, you'd be hard-pressed to find a writer who never pulls one out from time to time.

When the choice is between corporations and people, corporations and dignity, I stand with workers—all workers—everywhere, every single time. pic.twitter.com/zJtjwTf7y8 — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 5, 2019

SEE ALSO: Why people leave a space before punctuation in texts

Unfortunately — and I really hate to say it — the candidates' em dash use on Twitter has reached epidemic levels.

Too much of anything lessens its punch. Reese's pumpkins wouldn't be so beloved if they were available all year, and even the most delightful bop becomes less dazzling when it saturates the airwaves and moves into Old Navy commercial territory. Such is the reality of em dashes: They're meant to be used judiciously, not every time you need to make a point.

Some candidates are worse offenders than others. Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris, for instance, seem mostly to save them for real moments of emphasis. Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang, who use hyphens instead, do not appear to know what they are at all. But pretty much everyone else is throwing them around like F-bombs in an episode of Succession. Here are some examples.

Beto's campaign, which is perhaps the field's biggest em dash fanatic, should probably have just started a new sentence here.

Amy and I are wishing an easy fast to all those observing Yom Kippur this evening—gmar chatimah tovah. — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 8, 2019

Great video, but seems like a weird time for an em dash!

Whether it’s a 5k or an election—bring it on. Thanks for the question, @ColbertLateShow! pic.twitter.com/Sw5hinWPYQ — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 11, 2019

Did we need two, Joseph?

But that's not all — he betrayed our brave troops, who sacrificed alongside them. He betrayed our word as a nation — raising doubts among our allies around the world about America's security commitments. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 10, 2019

This is absolutely a time for a colon.

Tonight I was asked whether I’d commit to removing restrictions that prevent members of the LGBTQ community from donating blood.



My answer: “Two words—absolutely yes.” #EqualityTownHall #PowerOfOurPride — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 10, 2019

Just start a new sentence!

I am proud to stand with these civil rights organizations. In the fight for marijuana legalization, we must prioritize racial and economic justice—that means revenues from this industry must be invested in the communities that have been devastated by the so-called "war on drugs." https://t.co/5IGh53QI7j — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 21, 2019

To be fair, this linguistic choice makes sense for the candidates, correct usage notwithstanding. (If we're being honest, everyone ignores the rules anyway.) First, the trend is noticeable among many politicians, not just presidential candidates. Check out, for example, the unnecessary em dash in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's flu shot tweet.

It’s officially flu season, New York. I got my flu shot today — have YOU?



More info here ⟶ https://t.co/a85hj7YWnI pic.twitter.com/uOUBB88Wms — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) October 11, 2019

Second, when sentences with em dashes are read out loud, they tend to render the writing more emphatic, more dynamic — both qualities that are often useful to a presidential candidate's image as a speaker and thinker. They read like pregnant pauses, giving the phrases on both sides of the mark more heft, making them seem less like one of a thousand tweets and more like quotes from a great speech. In a story about em dashes from the New York Times, Semicolon author Cecelia Watson is quoted as saying the em dash has an "urgency to it, almost like a little arrow that's missing its arrowhead."

"It has that businessy but also breezy look to it," she continues. "Nobody really gets intimidated by a dash.” Businesslike, approachable, academic but also cavalier enough not to turn anyone off ... sounds like a political branding strategy, no?

Of course, you should not be making your political decisions based on em dashes. If that's your dealbreaker, we have bigger things to discuss than Cory Booker's social media team's aversion to colons. Still, Beto. You have to chill on the em dashes, dude — it's the best thing for America.