CORRECTION: This piece originally said Elizabeth Warren commented on the movement to draft her into the presidential race during a constituent meeting in Springfield, MA, citing a report from MassLive.com which explicitly stated that Warren was speaking about “the growing movement calling her to run.” However, a review of the full transcript of the meeting shows Warren was speaking about her supporters generally, including those who want her to run for president– but not about the draft movement in particular. We regret the error, and the corrected post is below.
Elizabeth Warren has said plenty of times—over fifty—that she will not run for president. But she’s never really said anything about the movement urging her to do so, short of her lawyer’s letter to Ready for Warren, disavowing its efforts.
At a constituent meeting Thursday in Springfield, Massachusetts, Warren was asked about “the folks that your message is resonating with, that want you to run for president, that support you as a senator.” According to MassLive.com she replied:
“Americans understand that the game is rigged, and they’ve had enough of it. They’re ready to fight back. They want a Washington that works for them,” Warren said.
“I think that people are getting more engaged, politically, and they’re seeing through a lot of the rhetoric that politicians have been throwing out there for a long time. They want to see some real change, and I think that’s what we need to work on.”
If Warren was speaking about the draft movement in particular, it would be news—though it’s not clear that she was; the question was rather broad. Warren still hasn’t really said anything positive about the activists trying to draft her into the race. On Thursday night, Warren’s office said only of the draft movement that “Senator Warren does not support their efforts.” An aide to Warren told The Nation the Senator was not referring to the draft movement, but rather a general sense of her political support.
But the groups who want Warren to run still found hope that she responded so postively to a question that, even if glancingly, was about the people urging her to run. “Our message to Senator Warren is this: ‘when you’re ready to run, we’ll be ready to help you fight back,” said Ready for Warren campaign manager Erica Sagrans in a statement. “This movement is about more than getting others to believe in you. It’s about getting you to believe in us.”
“It’s clear that Senator Warren hears the hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country want her in the 2016 race, because they know we need a President who’s not afraid to stand up to the powerful and fight for working families,” said Neil Sroka, communications director for Democracy for America, which teamed with MoveOn.org to create Run Warren Run.
