Elizabeth Warren 2020 presidential campaign

Elizabeth Warren 2020 presidential campaign
File:Elizabeth Warren 2020 presidential campaign logo.svg
Campaign	2020 United States presidential election (Democratic Party primaries)
Candidate	Elizabeth Warren U. S. Senator from Massachusetts (2013–present)
Affiliation	Democratic Party
Headquarters	Foxborough, Massachusetts
Key people	Roger Lau (campaign manager) Dan Geldon (chief of staff) Caitlin Mitchell (senior digital organizer) Emily Parcell Joe Rospars Janice Rottenberg Tessa Simonds Tracey Lewis Richard McDaniel Kane Miller Brendan Summers
Website
elizabethwarren.com

Elizabeth Warren's 2020 campaign began with her announcement, on December 31, 2018, that she had formed an exploratory committee to investigate a potential bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. On February 9, 2019, Warren officially announced her run at a rally in Lawrence, Massachusetts, at the site of the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. Warren is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and has been considered a top contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President.

Background

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Sign at the Women's March on Portland 2017, held the day after the Inauguration of Donald Trump.

During the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, Warren was widely believed by political commentators to be planning a run for the Democratic primaries and she was seen as one of the favorites to win the Democratic nomination, due to her popularity among the progressive wing of the party. However, she decided not to enter the race, claiming she “wanted to stay buckled down and keep doing [her] job” in the Senate.

Speculation continued even after she explicitly denied plans to join the Democratic fray, with headlines such as "Should we believe Elizabeth Warren when she says she won’t run for president?" appearing in the press. She stopped short of claiming that she would "never" run for the office of President, paving the way for a future attempt at the White House.

Warren vigorously campaigned for Hillary Clinton and took an active role in the 2016 presidential election. She remarked that Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee, was dishonest, uncaring of people and "a loser". In December 2016, Warren gained a seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, termed by The Boston Globe to be "a high-profile perch on one of the chamber's most powerful committees" which will "fuel speculation about a possible 2020 bid for president".

The media speculation regarding her campaign further increased her profile and widened the appeal of her platform among voters, leading CNBC to claim that she was "the real winner of the 2016 election".

Warren was named as part of the "Hell-No Caucus" by Politico in 2018, along with Senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders, given she voted "overwhelmingly to thwart his [Trump's] nominees for administration jobs", such as with Rex Tillerson, Betsy DeVos, and Mike Pompeo; all of the Senators in this group were considered potential 2020 presidential contenders at this point in time. At a town hall meeting in Holyoke, Massachusetts on September 29, 2018, Warren said that "[a]fter November 6, I will take a hard look at running for president", referencing the date of the 2018 United States elections.

Campaign

Exploratory committee

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Warren arriving at a January 4, 2019 rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa

Warren is regarded as the first major Democrat to announce the formation of an exploratory committee, which she did in a video on December 30, 2018. In this video, she says that "America's middle class is under attack" in explaining her populist economic agenda, indirectly referring to her recently proposed Accountable Capitalism Act.

News reports soon after the announcement noted that Republicans have often criticized Warren for her liberal economic positions and the controversy around her claim of Native American ancestry; political commentator Peter Beinart believes that Warren's approval rating reflects "the deeper discomfort that Americans again and again express with ambitious women". Columnist and political commentator Karol Markowicz disagrees with Beinart's view, describing Warren as "stern, abrasive and unfriendly," dismissing claims of sexism.

Roger Lau is her campaign manager, which makes him the first Asian-American campaign manager for a major Presidential candidate.

Campaign announcement

On February 9, 2019, Warren officially announced her run at a rally at the Everett Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Endorsements

List of political endorsements

U.S. Senators Ed Markey, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts since 2013 U.S. Representatives Joe Kennedy III, U.S. Representative from MA-4 since 2013 Lori Trahan, U.S. Representative from MA-3 since 2019 State legislators Karen Spilka, Massachusetts State Senator from Middlesex and Norfolk District 2 since 2005; President of the Senate since 2018 Merika Coleman, Assistant Minority Leader of the Alabama House of Representatives. Local officials Dan Rivera, Mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts, since 2014 Michelle Wu, At-Large Councillor of the Boston City Council since 2014 and President of the Boston City Council from 2016–2018 Steve Tompkins, Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts Individuals Bruce H. Mann, Harvard Law School professor and legal historian; Warren's husband Organizations Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Elizabeth Warren

Corruption

Warren's website says she advocates closing loopholes for lobbyists by requiring lobbyists to register as such, prohibiting foreign governments from hiring lobbyists in Washington, and restricting the ability of lobbyists to move into and out of government.

She also supports a permanent ban on Senators and Congressmen becoming lobbyists at any point in their life after Congress, as well as prohibiting them from trading stock while in office.

Warren supports requiring any candidate for federal office to post their tax returns online for public viewing and strengthening the code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices and the code of conduct for all other federal judges.

Economy

As an overview, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute sums up Warren's economic ideology as this:

"[...] we should select the tool appropriate to each economic problem we face and not decide ahead of time that the same solution is appropriate."

She has rejected the label of "socialist" and has said previously she is "a capitalist to my bones".

Warren has cosponsored a bill raising the U.S. minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Jobs

Warren supports the proposed Green New Deal to create jobs and fight climate change. She says some of the extra funding from her proposed tax on "ultra-millionaires" could be used to begin paying for this, as well as using some to create 1.5 million new jobs.

Monopolies and government intervention

She does not support U.S. government-takeover of certain industries. Instead, she wants to restructure markets, reflecting her view that the economy has been dominated by a select few individuals and that the government can reform it to make it more competitive. Her focus has been specifically on breaking up what, in her view, are monopolies in the technology sector through stronger antitrust enforcement. She has specifically called out Apple, Google, and Amazon. She has also pushed for more competition and government involvement in the healthcare industry.

Taxes

Warren supports an "Ultra-Millionaire Tax" on the 75,000 richest families in the U.S. that she says would result in trillions more in federal revenue. She proposes using that extra funding to provide universal childcare, relief of student loan debt, and down payments on a Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Additionally, she says a historic investment in housing would result in rents decreasing by 10% nationwide and 1.5 million new jobs.

Working class

Warren supports transferring corporate power to workers. She considers herself a defender of the middle class, saying in her announcement video that "America's middle class is under attack." Recent legislation she has submitted would make it easier for Americans to form and join labor unions.

She supports and recently introduced legislation requiring U.S. corporations worth more than $1 billion to allow their employees to select 40% of their board of directors. This is an attempt to get more money flowing back into the pockets of regular workers instead of corporate leaders. It would also require that shareholders approve any corporate funds being donated to political candidates.

Elections

Warren supports the passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to "protect the right of every American citizen to vote and have that vote counted." She also supports outlawing "unnecessary and unjustified" regulations that increase the difficulty of voting. She supports a ban on gerrymandering. She has also called for the abolition of the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote in presidential elections.

Warren also supports overturning the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. FEC, outlawing political donations made by federal lobbyists and PACs, and completely banning Super PACs.

Foreign Policy

Warren opposes President Trump's renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, "unless he produces a better deal for America's working families".

Warren acknowledges the need for a strong military for deterrent purposes, and says the U.S. must maintain vigilance regarding the threat of terrorism, but she says she wants to bring the troops home. She says in doing so, the U.S. government must ensure they get the support and benefits they're owed. She also says she supports "cutting our bloated defense budget" and cutting the hold by defense contractors on military policy. She opposes "endless wars".

She advocates "reinvesting in diplomacy" and multilateralism on issues of shared interests with allies.

Housing

Warren has supports federal funding for the construction of millions of new homes. She has also introduced legislation that would reward local governments for relaxing restrictive zoning codes that prevent the building of new homes. The plan also calls for further investment in affordable-housing projects, with a specific focus on assisting black families who have historically been hurt by federal housing guidelines.

She says some of the extra funding from her proposed tax on "ultra-millionaires" could be used to begin lowering rents.

Healthcare

Warren supports a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders that would require the U.S. government to provide health insurance to every U.S. citizen, a program known as Medicare-for-all. She says some of the extra funding from her proposed tax on "ultra-millionaires" could be used to begin paying for this.

Drug costs

Warren has advocated for the U.S. government to begin producing prescription drugs as a way to lower drug costs in the U.S. She has introduced legislation that would give the government the ability to produce generic versions of certain drugs, the name-brand versions of which are much more expensive.

Opioid epidemic response

In response to the national opioid epidemic, Warren has called for the U.S. government to assist in the treatment of more addicted Americans. Additionally, her plan calls for $100 billion in federal funds to be directed into fighting the opioid crisis over 10 years.

Judicial Issues

Criminal justice reform

Warren supports criminal justice reform stopping racial disparity in the justice system, banning private prisons, utilizing community policing, and demilitarizing local police departments. She also supports comprehensive sentencing reform and the decriminalization of marijuana.

Economic crime

Warren was a major player in the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is expected to highlight related legislation she has introduced to further eliminate white-collar crime. One such bill would create a law enforcement unit to specifically investigate crimes at big banks and financial institutions. It would also require senior executives of banks with more than $10 billion in assets to certify each year that they "found no criminal conduct or civil fraud within the financial institutions."

Warren has also introduced legislation with Republican Senator James Lankford (OK) requiring federal agencies to release more information in regards to closed federal investigations and cases against bad corporate actors.

Warren supports "new laws and a new commitment" to investigating and prosecuting large corporations and their leaders. She emphasizes the protection of customers and workers and stopping monopolies from forming.

External links

• Official website