Elizabeth Warren has long been a presidential frontrunner, at least where speculation (or just hopefulness) is concerned. She reportedly considered running for the Democratic nomination going into 2016 but decided against it. Hope for a Clinton/Warren ticket floated around but never materialized. And as recently as just a few months ago, Warren definitively said she was not running in 2020. But at a recent Town Hall meeting, she finally said what her supporters have been waiting to hear: that she would “take a hard look at running for president.”
Senator Warren told her constituents that while “Washington was broken long before Donald Trump took office,” things have only gotten worse since 2016 and she is “worried down to my bones about what Donald Trump is doing to our democracy.”
But the real final straw wasn’t Trump. It was Brett Kavanaugh and the Republican senators on the Judicial Committee charged with questioning him and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford last week.
“I watched 11 men who were too chicken to ask a woman a single question. I watched as Brett Kavanaugh acted like he was entitled to that position and angry at anyone who would question him. I watched powerful men helping a powerful man make it to an even more powerful position. I watched that and I thought … Time’s up.”
Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to be angry. Dr. Ford wasn’t. Women grow up hearing that being angry makes us unattractive. Well, today, I’m angry – and I own it. I plan to use that anger to take back the House, take back the Senate, & put Democrats in charge. Are you with me? pic.twitter.com/c9DebKTQEV
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) September 30, 2018
“It’s time for women to go to Washington and fix our broken government and that includes a woman at the top,” she continued. “So here’s what I promise: After November 6th, I will take a hard look at running for President.”
In response, nearly every person in the crowd jumped to their feet. Some were crying. Senator Warren has a gift for impassioned, inspiring speeches and this was no exception.
Warren is sure to garner some criticism for seeking re-election to a Senate seat she might not serve to term. Indeed, there are already headlines about her planning to “dump” Massachusetts. And maybe that “hard look” won’t result in her running, as it didn’t in 2016.
But Warren also spoke to the importance of midterm elections. If you’re focused solely on 2020, you’re missing what could be, without hyperbole, the most important election of our lifetime. “We cannot be a party–we cannot be a people–that focuses only on what happens once every four years,” she said. “These midterms matter.” With a majority in the House and the Senate, Democrats could finally pass the sorts of legislation they believe will help people–bringing down the student loan debt burden, protecting Americans with pre-existing conditions, rebuilding infrastructure, just to name a few.
We want a Democrat in the White House. We want a woman in the White House. But that’s not a panacea for everything wrong in politics. “I want to see Democrats in every race, in every district, in every state,” Warren says. “You don’t get what you don’t fight for. I want Democrats out there fighting.”
(via Elizabeth Warren on Facebook, image: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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