Elizabeth Warren announces likely 2020 presidential bid

She's running

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published December 31, 2018 11:46AM (EST)

Elizabeth Warren (AP/Charles Krupa)
Elizabeth Warren (AP/Charles Krupa)

She's running.

Elizabeth Warren announced on the last day of 2018 that she is a likely contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. Warren said she was forming an exploratory committee, which allows her to raise money and fill staff positions before a formal kickoff of her presidential bid. Legally, exploratory committees are no different from regular campaign committees.

In a four-and-a-half minute announcement video, the Democratic Massachusetts senator built upon her familiar themes of wealth inequality with an acknowledgment that, even in a rigged system, racial discrimination presents an additional and unique challenge.

“Working families today face a lot tougher path than I did. And families of color face a path that is steeper and rockier. A path made even harder by the impact of generations of discrimination,” Warren said in her announcement video.

Warren’s rise, from Harvard professor to Washington politician, is built off her brand of taking a pickaxe to Wall Street. The week before, Warren announced that she hired a Black woman as her chief of staff, one of the few on Capitol Hill. 

“I’ve spent my career getting to the bottom of why America’s promise works for some families, but others, who work just as hard, slip through the cracks into disaster,” Warren continues in the video. “And what I’ve found is terrifying: these aren’t cracks families are falling into, they’re traps. America’s middle class is under attack.”

 


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

MORE FROM Sophia Tesfaye


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

2020 Presidential Race All Salon Democrats Elizabeth Warren News & Politics