Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced her 2020 campaign for president Saturday, before a cheering crowd waving American flags in the cold winds of Lawrence, Mass. Lawrence is a powerfully symbolic choice, due to its place in history as home to the unforgettable “Bread and Roses” textile workers strike of 1912, as well as a reflection of Warren’s longtime focus on elevating and supporting the modern-day labor movement.
The former law professor was first elected to the Senate in 2012; she’s since served on the Committees for Armed Services, Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Aging, and, of course, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Warren was introduced by her first major endorser.
After recapping the Bread and Roses story—and its phenomenal impact on American labor today—Warren got straight to the point.
Hard-working people are up against a small group that holds far too much power, not just in our economy, but also in our democracy. Like the women of Lawrence, we are here to say “Enough is enough.” We are here to take on a fight that will shape our lives, our children’s lives, and our grandchildren’s lives, just as surely as the fight that began in these streets more than a century ago.
Because the man in the White House is not the cause of what is broken, he is just the latest and most extreme symptom of what’s gone wrong in America: a product of a rigged system that props up the rich and powerful and kicks dirt on everyone else.
So once he’s gone, we can’t pretend that none of this ever happened. It won’t be enough to just undo the terrible acts of this administration. We can’t afford just to tinker around the edges, a tax credit here, a regulation there. Our fight is for big, structural change.
This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone.
And that is why I stand here today, to declare that I am a candidate for president of the United States of America.
Though Warren was the first high-profile Democrat to show her interest in the presidency by forming an exploratory committee way back on December 31, she is the eighth candidate to formally announce her candidacy in what’s sure to become an even more-crowded blue field.
Watch her announcement below.