Fiorina’s attempt to reclaim the term “feminism” wasn’t just a challenge to Democrats; it was also a challenge to the Republican Party and the way other GOP candidates talk (or fail to talk) about women in America. “A crushingly large number of liberal feminists won’t allow for the fact that some people might share their broad goals but disagree about how to best achieve them,” Elizabeth Nolan Brown, a staff editor at the libertarian magazine Reason wrote in September, adding: “Fiorina just might mix up the way the Republican Party relates to gender, too.” Now that Fiorina is out of the race, Democratic candidates may find themselves alone on the 2016 stage in advocating for feminism, an outcome that could make equality for women an increasingly polarized political subject. That could also make it easier for Republican candidates to dismiss sexism and gender discrimination as exclusive concerns of the political left—and ones that need not be taken seriously.

In addition to facing accusations that her brand of feminism is disingenuous, Fiorina was called sexist for leveling certain attacks against Hillary Clinton. Fiorina’s veiled shot at Clinton’s marriage during a primary debate—“Unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband”—prompted The New Republic to wonder aloud whether the attack was “the most sexist comment yet in the Republican primary.” It makes sense to consider Fiorina’s attempt to lay claim to the feminist label with skepticism. But setting aside questions of how her policies would impact women, and attacks lobbed at Clinton, the fact that Fiorina and liberal feminists seemed to agree on a basic set of premises created the potential for greater attention to gender inequality across the political spectrum. Now that Fiorina isn’t in the race, that possibility will be diminished.