Elizabeth Warren will not run for president in 2016, the Massachusetts Democrat and liberal favorite said in an interview published Tuesday.
Asked by former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairwoman and Fortune magazine columnist Sheila Bair if she will run for president, Warren simply responded “no.”
Warren often denies that she is running for the Democratic nomination. But she often responds to questions about her plans in the present tense, telling journalists that she “is not running for president” rather than ruling out a run in the future.
Outside progressive groups have sought to draw Warren into the race as a left-wing alternative to the presumed frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Warren told Bair that the eventual Democratic nominee will “need to speak to America’s families about the economic crisis in this country. It starts with the recognition that Washington works for the rich and powerful and not for America’s families.”
In her conversation with Bair, who is also a prominent advocate of tight regulation of big banks, Warren focused on the political clout that the largest banks exert on the government.
Her favorite president, the first-term senator said, is Teddy Roosevelt.
“He was the trust buster,” she told Bair. She explained that “his [principal] push for breaking up the trusts was because they had too much political power. … And when that happens, it’s not just a threat to the economy. It’s a threat to democracy.”
Warren, who has supported breaking up big banks, said that that simple rules, rather than large, complex ones, are best for reining in big banks.
Complicated rules, she explained, allow big companies to exploit loopholes.
“It’s also a way to tilt the playing field toward the big guys. Small companies, start ups, new competitors just get shut out of a complex system,” she said.
