Democracy for America, the activist group founded by Howard Dean, has vowed to spend a quarter-million dollars to help draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. It is the latest sign that liberal activists are frustrated with Hillary Clinton’s early domination of the race.
“America needs Senator Warren’s leadership, this is her moment, and we’re committed to building the powerful, grassroots movement that will inspire her to seize it,” said Charles Chamberlain, DFA’s executive director.
The group made the announcement in Iowa, which hosts the first political caucus in presidential primaries. The group would be officially joining Moveon.org’s “Draft Warren” campaign, which began last week. Moveon.org, which boasts 8 million members, has vowed to spend $1 million to build an infrastructure for her to run.
Though still a freshman senator from Massachusetts, Warren has emerged as a top spokeswoman for the Democratic Party’s left wing. Most recently, she led the opposition to the omnibus spending bill, arguing that its change to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law was a gift to Wall Street.
Liberal groups with serious misgivings about Clinton have been pushing Warren to run for several months. Democracy for America said 87 percent of its 1 million members backed Warren in an internal vote last week.
The Massachusetts senator has repeatedly said she will not run in 2016, though, and has given little indication that she will change her mind.
Dean officially endorsed Clinton last week, breaking with the group he founded over the issue. He argued that Clinton will address the same issues, such as income inequality, that Warren has focused on.
Democracy for America conceded drafting Warren was an uphill fight. “Democracy for America members aren’t under the delusion that it is going to be easy to prove the Beltway pundits wrong and encourage Senator Warren to enter the 2016 race. If Senator Warren were already running, there’d be no reason to launch a draft campaign in the first place,” said Annie Weinberg, the group’s electoral director.
