With yesterday’s big news about impeachment, I wanted to highlight another big thing that happened yesterday:
Hundreds of veterans of Barack Obama's campaigns and administration have signed on to endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president, as multiple Democratic presidential candidates compete to claim the popular former president's political coalition and legacy.
With the Iowa caucuses less than two months away, more than
200 Obama alumni joined a signature-gathering effort led by a pair of former senior Obama aides, Sara El-Amine and Jon Carson. Among other roles, El-Amine was national director of Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, while Carson was a national field director for Obama's 2008 campaign prior to joining the administration. Both served as executive directors of Organizing for America, the Obama grassroots organizing network.
The list of endorsers shared with CNN includes Robert Ford, ex-US ambassador to Syria, and Sean Carroll, a former senior official at USAID. It also features Obama alumni who are currently working on the Warren campaign full-time including in senior-most positions, like Warren chief strategist Joe Rospars, senior adviser Emily Parcell, national political director Rebecca Pearcey and national director of public engagement Alencia Johnson.
In an interview with CNN, El-Amine and Carson touted the "incredible diversity" of the group that has come out in support of Warren. The 200-plus names were collected in under a week, and they planned to continue growing the list, they said.
"We are a group that really uniquely knows that electability is self-determining and that oftentimes it's the people with the boldest vision and the most unlikely candidacies early on who can really shift the field," El-Amine said. "Sen. Warren really has the zest and the grit and the gumption and the audacity that we loved that President Obama really embodied."
Asked about the decision to support Warren over Obama's vice president,
Joe Biden, Carson declined to comment on any of the other candidates. He pointed out that Warren herself is an Obama alum, having spearheaded the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis -- something Warren frequently reminds voters of on the campaign trail.
"We all got to know each other working on a campaign, but we're doing different things now and I think we all really believe in the need for big structural change that she is promising," Carson said of the Obama alums backing Warren. "I think that's why we're with Sen. Warren."
The news comes as Warren's rivals are also touting support from the Obama network.
By the way, Warren's campaign offices all over the place. Like in Washington:
Elizabeth Warren is making a play for Washington, opening campaign offices and hiring paid staff before the state’s March 10 presidential primary.
Warren’s campaign has opened two offices in Seattle and hired eight senior aides, with a total of 30 paid staff in the state, according to the campaign, which was set to make a public announcement Thursday morning.
The push puts the Massachusetts senator’s state organization ahead of her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. Bernie Sanders also has named a Washington state director and retains a core of volunteer activists who backed him here during the 2016 election. A spokesman for the state Democratic Party said he was unaware of any other 2020 campaigns with offices or staff in the state.
Among Warren’s announced Washington hires are Democratic operatives with strong local ties.
Maria Leininger, Warren’s state director, formerly worked as political and district director for U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Sammamish, and is an adjunct professor teaching political science and law courses at Bellevue College and Seattle University.
Dylan Cate, the campaign’s deputy director, has worked for a decade in the labor movement and progressive politics, most recently as organizing director for the state Democratic Party. And Shelby Iseler, her organizing director, has worked for environmental groups and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle.
Colorado:
Ann Meisel, a retired public-school teacher from Denver, has nothing but praise for Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and one of the top contenders for her party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Warren has the best shot, Meisel says, not only at defeating President Donald Trump, but at enacting the “radical changes” that she feels are necessary. But in a crowded primary field, how does she plan on convincing other Colorado voters to feel the same way?
“I think we have to work our butts off,” Meisel says with a laugh. “I think we have to work very hard. Because right now, I think corporate America and large money are pouring funds into white males, and I haven’t seen them do a whole lot for me in my lifetime.”
Meisel and dozens of other Warren supporters gathered at the campaign’s new Denver office on December 11 to hear from campaign staff and undergo volunteer trainings. Along with another Warren office opening the same night in Colorado Springs, it’s the first official on-the-ground presence in Colorado for a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. But that won’t be the case for long.
“We’re so incredibly happy to have you here as a part of this fight, a part of this movement,” PaaWee Rivera, Warren for President’s Colorado state director, told the crowd. “We want to make sure to thank you all in advance for all the long nights, all the cold pizza and day-old coffee that you’re going to drink.”
Along with twelve other states, Colorado will hold a presidential primary election on “Super Tuesday,” March 3, 2020, giving Colorado voters the chance to make their voices heard relatively early in the nominating process. And because of the state’s mail-in ballot system, the first votes to be cast are less than two months away, with most Coloradans likely receiving their ballots in the days following the New Hampshire primary on February 11.
North Carolina:
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is opening offices in North Carolina and announcing endorsements here ahead of the next Democratic presidential candidate debate on Thursday.
Warren also waded into the North Carolina controversy over the UNC system’s $2.5 million payment for the preservation and display of the Silent Sam statue as it gave the monument to a Confederate group.
The Massachusetts senator drew thousands to her first North Carolina campaign rally held in November at Broughton High School in Raleigh. She also held events with a Latino group in Raleigh and at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro.
The Warren campaign opened its state headquarters in downtown Raleigh earlier this month.
This week her campaign is opening field offices in Durham, Charlotte and Asheville.
North Carolina’s primaries for president and other offices are March 3.
One of the elected officials on stage at Warren’s Raleigh rally was state Rep. Deb Butler, the Wilmington Democrat who gained national attention by shouting “I will not yield” to House Speaker Tim Moore when Democrats were caught off guard by a surprise vote to override the state budget, which was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the subject of a months-long standoff.
Following Butler’s viral video moment, Warren tweeted a video of support to the North Carolina legislator. At Warren’s rally Butler led the crowd in shouting “We will not yield” and “We will persist.” The second was a reference to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell silencing Warren during the confirmation hearings of Jeff Sessions to attorney general, an incident that led to McConnell saying, “Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Texas:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign opened an Austin office Saturday, less than three months before the Texas Democratic primary, which comes early on the nominating calendar.
The offices are part of the Massachusetts senator’s latest push to expand her campaign’s presence in the Lone Star State. On Wednesday, Warren’s campaign revealed that it has hired more than two dozen full-time senior staffers and organizers across Texas.
“Just because we live in Texas doesn’t mean that our voices should be any less heard,” Warren’s Texas state director, Jenn Longoria, told a crowd of more than 150 volunteers at the North Lamar Boulevard office.
Longoria, who was named the campaign’s Texas state director in October, said Texas has remained a red state because of low voter turnout.
“We really believe that the Warren campaign and the current climate is going to help bring those people out,” Longoria told reporters.
As a 2020 presidential candidate, Warren has visited Austin, Dallas and Houston.
The campaign opened a San Antonio office earlier Saturday and plans to open offices in Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth soon.
Speaking to Warren volunteers, state Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood, said Texas is about to be “the center of the political universe.”
“Sen. Warren knows that,” Zwiener said. “She’s taking Texas seriously and investing in it.”
Missouri:
Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren will open a Kansas City campaign office Saturday as the Massachusetts senator looks to get a head start on the March 10 Missouri primary.
Several candidates for the Democratic nomination have made stops in the Kansas City area, including former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. But Warren is the first of the top-tier contenders to establish a campaign office, which will be at 31st Street and Gillham Road.
Warren’s campaign has tapped Brooklynne Roulette Mosley, a former staffer of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, to serve as its Missouri state director ahead of the Democratic primary, when 68 delegates will be up for grabs.
“Missouri for Warren has grown our operation across the state and we’re excited for the next phase of our grassroots movement: opening our Kansas City office,” Mosley said in a statement.
“I’m proud of the incredible work this team has done so far, from organizing events to volunteer trainings and now opening our new office. We’re committed to organizing everywhere and we can’t wait to meet voters all across Missouri.”
Warren’s campaign is also signing up Kansas City area volunteers to travel to Iowa Saturday to canvass for votes in the crucial state that holds the first presidential caucus.
Michigan:
Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s Michigan campaign operation opened its first office in Detroit Tuesday.
Warren is the first Democratic candidate to open a field office in Michigan to prepare for the March 10, 2020 primary, though several presidential hopefuls have been training volunteers during the last several months. Candidates have said winning Michigan, which turned red in 2016 for the first time in nearly three decades, is vital to defeating President Donald Trump in the next election.
The Massachusetts senator was also the first 2020 Democrat to hire a Michigan state director, tapping former executive director for the Michigan state House Democratic caucus Mike McCollum.
“We’re building a grassroots movement for big, structural change everywhere -- and that includes in Michigan,” McCollum said in a statement. “Since announcing her campaign, Elizabeth has visited Lansing and Detroit to talk to Michiganders and share her vision of an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. The campaign has over a dozen staffers and organizers on the ground already and will be opening offices across the state, including our newly opened Detroit office.”
Warren stopped in Michigan several times to campaign so far this year but hasn’t been back since appearing at a September union forum in Madison Heights. The primary field has largely kept a tight focus on voters in states that will cast a ballot before Michigan, like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Pennsylvania:
Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is moving to become the first in the Democratic presidential primary to hire field staff and open field offices in Pennsylvania.
It’s a late primary state that could become an important prize.
Warren’s campaign said it has hired a Pennsylvania campaign strategist and will bring on staff and open a field office in Philadelphia in the coming weeks.
Pennsylvania’s primary is April 28. It has the fifth-most Democratic primary delegates.
Warren may have ground to make up in Pennsylvania. Former Vice President Joe Biden has his campaign headquarters in Philadelphia and deep political inroads in the state.
Arizona:
Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has hired someone to oversee her campaign in Arizona, making her the first top-tier candidate from her party to do so.
Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, named Andrea Nemecek as her state director. She previously worked on campaigns for former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
In 2018, Nemecek helped train about 80 field workers in Arizona for what proved to be the Democrats' best election cycle in the state in decades. Before joining Warren's 2020 campaign, she was the Iowa organizing director for former presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
The hire, along with a dozen others in Arizona, comes as Warren is set to open campaign offices in Phoenix and Tucson.
And Warren’s big interview with Rolling Stone came out today and is well worth the read. Let’s keep up the momentum for her campaign. Click here to donate and get involved with Warren’s campaign.