After a lackluster performance in New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren brought the heat during the Nevada debate.
The Massachusetts senator, 70, asserted herself to drive home her message that she would stand for working families if elected to the White House while also attacking Michael Bloomberg over his record and some of her center-left rivals for their stances, for example, against “Medicare for all.”
But with her 2020 Democratic presidential bid hanging in the balance following poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and similar results expected in Nevada and South Carolina, it may all be moot.
“Elizabeth Warren won the debate tonight. She defined the discussion from the first moments, demonstrating her strength, energy, and knowledge in cornering Mayor Mike Bloomberg — and she showed the American people exactly why she is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump,” Warren campaign spokeswoman Kristen Orthman wrote in a statement late Wednesday.
After the debate wrapped up, CNN political commentator Van Jones said Warren, who spoke the most, with 16.35 minutes, made the night a “disaster” for Bloomberg in what was the former New York City mayor’s maiden outing on a primary debate stage.
“Bloomberg went in as the Titanic, billionaire-dollar machine Titanic. Titanic meet iceberg ‘Elizabeth Warren.’ She took him to task in a way that I’ve never seen in a debate,” he said on-air.
Twitter also lit up with praise for the former Harvard Law School professor and founder of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Elizabeth Warren is simultaneously coming across as both the candidate you want to get a beer with AND the smartest kid in the class,” Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman Charlotte Clymer tweeted.
Elizabeth Warren is simultaneously coming across as both the candidate you want to get a beer with AND the smartest kid in the class. #DemDebate
— Charlotte Clymer ?️? (@cmclymer) February 20, 2020
“Warren dominated that stage. It wasn’t just her best performance, it was the best performance yet by any candidate in this race so far,” Ezra Levin, Indivisible’s co-founder and co-executive director, added.
Warren dominated that stage. It wasn’t just her best performance, it was the best performance yet by any candidate in this race so far.
But hey that’s just my take – what do you think?
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin) February 20, 2020
Among Warren’s best moments were those targeting Bloomberg, the billionaire philanthropist.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg,” she said.
The senator compared opponents Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar’s healthcare plans to a “PowerPoint” and “Post-It note” as well.
However, Warren’s path to the nomination has narrowed since the first two contests, and her struggle so far to appeal to minority Democrats doesn’t bode well for electoral success in Nevada and South Carolina.
She is currently polling in third place ahead of Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, according to RealClearPolitics data, with an average of 14% support, to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 30% and to former Vice President Joe Biden’s 16%.
