DES MOINES, Iowa — Elizabeth Warren has the attention of Iowa Democrats.
During a weekend of campaign events that gave her a head start on top Democratic competitors, Warren staked a claim to being the person destined to return control of the White House to the Democratic Party after a crushing defeat two years ago.
In a little over 24 hours and in four campaign events across the state, Warren struck multiple chords with Iowa Democrats in overflowing halls. In her stump speech, Warren talked about her biography growing up in Oklahoma before making her political pitch, which nearly 3,000 Iowans heard in total. Headlined by her fiery brand of liberalism, the Massachusetts senator struck a familiar tone in describing herself as an opponent of the big banks and corporations.
More importantly, Warren has positioned herself as the brawler Democrats need in 2020 to topple President Trump. On the first night in Council Bluffs before a crowd of 500, Warren used the words “fight” or “fought” 17 times, including six times during her closing message and seven more times during a gaggle with reporters afterwards.
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“It is time to dream big and fight hard,” Warren said in one of her more well-received lines on the campaign trail. “This is the fight of our lives,” she added later.
“It’s hard. You bet it’s hard, but so is every fight worth having,” she said while wrapping up. “And we are an America that believes in coming together, believes in organizing hard and believes in fighting back.”
After two years of a nonstop “resistance” to anything and everything touched by Trump, the message resonates.
“I’m looking for somebody that’s strong. Who’s not going to collapse when the other candidate attacks them personally,” said Deborah Edginton, 77, of Des Moines. “This woman has strength.”
Dave Somsky, a former Woodbury County Democratic Party chairman, said that it is imperative for the Democrat who emerges to face Trump to be a fighter, even if they aren’t necessarily fighting Trump head on.
“Oh that’s extremely important,” said Somsky. “That’s one thing that people like about Warren. They know that she’s not afraid to fight. She won’t be run by national politics.”
Notably, while Warren talks about her battles of years past, including over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and her time in the Senate, she is less willing to name-check the person she would do the fighting against if she wins the nomination. Only once during quartet of events did the Massachusetts Democrat mention the name “Donald Trump,” preferring to use passing references to the president.
When one voter at the Des Moines event Saturday night asked how to debate someone “not interested in civility or facts,” Warren deadpanned without mentioning any names. “Did you have someone specific in mind?” Warren wondered, adding later that Democrats have to “stay focused on what matters to us.”
The only time Warren mentioned Trump by name was Saturday morning in Sioux City when a voter asked why she gave the president more “fodder” by releasing the results of a DNA test to prove “strong evidence” of Native American ancestry.
Warren may not give Trump all of her attention in front of the voters, but Trump certainly is focused on her. Shortly after her announcement this week, Trump tweeted out a faux bumper sticker released by the Daily Wire, a right-wing news website.
Many of the people who came out to see Warren were enthusiastic about doing so. Multiple women who attended events showed off tattoos reading “Nevertheless, she persisted,” the slogan associated with Warren after she was shut out of a Senate floor debate in February 2017 over then-Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions when reading a letter from Coretta Scott King.
“I think she’s a good fighter. I think she’s tough,” said Pam Cates, 60, of nearby Missouri Valley, who described Warren as a role model of hers. “She does not let people bully her.”
Among those considered a potential top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nod, Warren needed an Iowa showing. Over the past year, Warren was focused intently on her own re-election race. Unlike others eyeing a 2020 tilt, including former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., all of whom stumped for candidates ahead of November, Warren’s last Iowa appearance came in 2014.
According to a CNN poll taken last month, Warren sat fourth at 8 percent behind the likes of Biden (32 percent) and Sanders (19 percent), both of whom have been on the ballot in Iowa statewide previously, and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (11 percent), who has become a party darling after nearly toppling Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for his Senate seat.
In other words, there was work to be done. But for Warren, the fight is always worth having.
“I’m just excited to be here with people who are ready to get in the fight, because I’m sure ready to get in it,” Warren said.
