Some 365,000 Americans, more than all who voted in Vermont or Wyoming in 2012, are urging Massachusetts populist Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president, challenging Hillary Clinton.
Democracy for America and MoveOn.org, in planning to suspend their “Run Warren Run” petition draft effort, said they will deliver the massive number of supportive signatures to Warren and hope she’ll reconsider her pledge to stay in the Senate.
The number was far more than the groups expected to collect and hope it will prompt Warren to change her mind and consider a bid. To collect the signatures, the two groups set up a campaign infrastructure in Iowa and New Hampshire that they said Warren could tap if she got into the race.
“It’s not too late,” said one supporter.
Warren has polled better than most others challenging Clinton, including Vice President Joe Biden. And on Monday, the Clinton campaign seemed to acknowledge that challengers will do well against her in Iowa and New Hampshire when they sent reporters the following:
— In Iowa, no Democratic candidate for president has ever received more than 50% of the caucus vote unless they were a sitting President or Vice-President, or incumbent Iowa Senator.
— In New Hampshire, no Democrat in a contested primary in the last 25 years has won by more than 27,000 votes or received more than 50% of the vote. Even running unopposed in 2012 as the incumbent president, President Obama received around 80% of the primary vote.
Officially, the groups will suspend the draft effort next Monday and deliver a petition with the signatures to Warren.
“Even without her in the race, Elizabeth Warren and the Run Warren Run campaign she inspired have already transformed the 2016 presidential election by focusing every single Democratic candidate on combatting our country’s income inequality crisis,” said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America. “We still think there’s plenty of time for Sen. Warren to change her mind, but now that we’ve shown that she has the support she would need to mount a winning a campaign, we’re excited to take the grassroots juggernaut we’ve built with our members and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Warren in the battles ahead,” he added in a statement.
Two groups wish Sen. Elizabeth Warren would run for the presidency, like Hillary Rodham Clinton. AP Photo
“The Run Warren Run campaign has changed the conversation by showing that Americans are hungry for Elizabeth Warren’s agenda—an agenda that rejects the rigged status quo in Washington and puts working and middle-class Americans over corporate interests,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action. “We’ve assembled a grassroots army and demonstrated the substantial support Sen. Warren could expect if she were to enter the race. Now it’s time to suspend our active draft efforts and pivot to standing alongside Sen. Warren on the big fights ahead, starting with stopping Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
