Don’t get Massachusetts wrong. They like their progressive senator just fine. The state just doesn’t want Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president.
A new Suffolk University Political Research Center/Boston Globe poll finds that while 32 percent of likely voters in Massachusetts wouldn’t mind seeing Warren on a presidential ballot come 2020, a whopping 58 percent don’t want Warren to run.
Is she running? Yes. Should the lack of enthusiasm at home worry her? Not really.
Turns out, a lot of states get anxious when their favored politician considers a presidential bid. Take Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, for instance. In 2014, a whopping 63 percent of the electorate in his state didn’t want him to run for the White House. He would go on to lose the 2016 presidential primary, but he easily won re-election to the governor’s mansion in 2014.
And this sort of thing isn’t at all unusual. As Aaron Blake of the Washington Post pointed out two years ago, it is incredibly rare for home states to give their politicians the nod to run for national office. Check out the chart below:
Notice how the last politician to really have the clear endorsement of their state was Hillary Clinton?
This isn’t the first time Massachusetts has told Warren to say no. Polling back in 2014 showed 51 percent of that state electorate opposed to a national run. Those numbers were just as disheartening for Warren then as they are now. But the progressive firebrand still has reason for hope. National polls show her whipping President Trump in a head-to-head race, and 57 percent of the Massachusetts electorate view her favorably. They could come around by 2020.
Take Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for instance. His voters overwhelmingly wanted him to stay home in 2013, with 59 percent telling him not to run for president. Not only did Cruz carry the Lone Star State in the presidential primary three years later, he was the only Republican candidate capable of slowing the momentum of the Trump train.
Winning over the home electorate isn’t everything at first. And this should give Warren heart. Massachusetts might be nervous now. Those jitters could disappear and the home state could come together to pull for Warren later.
[Opinion: Elizabeth Warren fundraised off Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser while she still can]
