I’m Anna, the executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action, and I wanted to share some thoughts on our work to encourage Elizabeth Warren to run for president.
Many members of the DailyKos and MoveOn communities have been roaring supporters of Senator Elizabeth Warren for a number of years—from her days creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has now returned literally billions to consumers who’ve been ripped off by big banks; to her Senate race in Massachusetts, where MoveOn and DailyKos members chipped in millions of dollars and turned out thousands of volunteers to help propel her into office; to her commitment in Congress to stand up to Wall Street and stand with middle-class and working Americans every day.
MoveOn is member-led. In the wake of the 2014 elections, we were hearing from an increasing numbers of MoveOn members that they were ready to turn to 2016 and to help shape the race. We posed the question to our membership: Should we launch a campaign encouraging Senator Warren to enter the presidential race? More than 81 percent of votes came back saying, “Hell yes!” (OK, the ballots themselves actually just said “Yes,” but that was the tone of the comments folks sent in along with their votes.)
Some prominent, thoughtful progressives—including Markos, who is a strong supporter of Elizabeth Warren’s leadership in the Senate—have had a different take. In a piece last year, he outlined reasons why some folks think Senator Warren should stay out of the presidential contest.
I have a different take. I believe that Senator Warren should run, that she would be a viable candidate, and that the progressive movement, the Democratic Party, and our country would be better with her in the race. And I believe that regardless of whether she ultimately decides to run, our Run Warren Run effort is building progressive power and is good for the movement.
(A Look Back: Run Warren Run Builds Momentum in First Quarter)
We haven’t yet had this conversation here, and with the first Democratic candidates likely to soon formally enter the race, I’m eager to discuss Run Warren Run with the DailyKos community. I want to respond to some of the points Markos made, and then hope we all can debate and discuss them in the comments down below (I’ll stick around after posting to hear what you all have to say and offer more thoughts).
Here are some of Markos’ points, and my response:
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