Jane Fonda was giddy Thursday night at the Women in Film Honors gala in Beverly Hills.
“I’m so excited,” she told me while practically skipping down the red carpet.
The longtime political activist is riding the Election Day blue wave that helped the Democrats take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
“I felt pretty optimistic, but I didn’t dare imagine that it would be this broad,” Fonda said. “I’m just so proud of American people, that they were paying attention and it wasn’t just about affordability. [James] Talarico’s acceptance speech was a masterpiece and in it he said, ‘We voted to love our neighbor.’”
She added, “I’m so excited with how many incredible women have been elected to high important offices.”
As for the Democrats’ next move, Fonda said, “We have to be very smart. We can’t return to the old neoliberalism. We have to take off our corporate hat, take off our donor hat and start doing things that are going to help working people in this country and we have to rule with love. We don’t rule yet, but we have to block what’s bad and fight for what’s good.”
She continued, “It’s not just about accountability and investigations because there’s so much corruption and criminality, but it also has to be about really putting power in the hands of working people and making life better for them.”
Fonda said she knows a lot of the candidates who won their elections. “I have a PAC and I’ve been traveling the country meeting them. These are different kinds of people,” she said. “People are just pissed. They don’t want crime. They don’t want chaos. They don’t want corruption.”
Fonda was on hand the gala to help honor Salma Hayek, who received the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award.
