Several leading progressive organizations are urging Democratic candidates to embrace the “economic populism” championed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren during tonight’s presidential primary debate.
In separate letters to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America and MoveOn.org urged each White House hopeful to “pro-actively bring up and address” a handful of wedge issues during the first Democratic debate. The three groups claim to represent the “Warren wing” of the Democratic Party.
“[We] are asking the Democratic candidates to be bold during the debate in addressing economic populism issues — such as debt-free college, expanding Social Security benefits, and Wall Street reform and accountability,” the PCCC wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
In addition to debt-free college, Social Security and Wall Street, the letters also ask candidates to address the Black Lives Matter movement. Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley, as well as several Republican candidates, have each been heckled during campaign stops by protesters associated with the grassroots group.
“You’ve put forward a platform designed to address the structural racism faced by black and brown people in this country… You’ve also acknowledged that life-or-death racial justice issues — such as a broken criminal justice system and police officers who abuse their power–need to be solved in order for people to live their lives and have a chance at economic opportunity,” each letter reads.
The letters continue, “We urge you to speak boldly about racial justice in the upcoming debate, citing specific policies that protect and value the lives of people of color.”
“The above big ideas include some of the top economic-populist priorities of the modern progressive movement–ones that TV moderators are still learning about and often overlook,” each letter states. “Because these issues are important to millions of families and are key to motivating voters, we urge a special pro-active approach to elevating them in the debate.”
Shortly after the letters were sent, PCCC claims it conducted follow-up conversations with senior staffers belonging to each of the three Democratic hopefuls’ presidential campaigns.
PCCC’s statement Tuesday was accompanied by a video featuring dozens of clips of each candidate discussing the aforementioned issues during stump speeches and media appearances.
“The #WarrenWing has changed the debate,” the video claims, adding that “voters want to hear this boldness in the Democratic debate.”
Warren, a former Harvard Law professor, rose to fame in 2012 when she became the first female senator to represent the Bay State, beating Republican incumbent Scott Brown. Because her ultra-liberal positions have been well-received among Democrats, Warren has been credited with provoking much of Clinton’s leftward shift on issues like Wall Street reform, campaign finance, college affordability and climate change.
Though Warren was courted heavily by progressives to launch a 2016 bid of her own, she said unequivocally early on that she had no interest in joining the Democratic primary field.
The first Democratic debate will air Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on CNN. Five candidates will take the stage at the event hosted in Las Vegas, Nev.
