She persisted. And she's running. In a new four-minute video released on Monday, the last day of 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced that she's forming an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential election.
The senator accompanied the video with this email message to supporters:
The problem isn’t caused by some indisputable law of physics, like gravity. The problem isn’t that people aren’t willing to work hard. The problem starts in Washington. Our government has been bought and paid for by a bunch of billionaires and giant corporations that think they get to dictate the rules that affect everyone. Tax loopholes. Prescription drug pricing. Financial rules. Environmental protection. These companies define policies that are great for their bottom line, while good, honest people who work hard get squeezed harder every year. It’s corruption, pure and simple.
That’s not how government is supposed to work. You know it. I know it. And we know it is time to fight back.
I’m forever grateful that I got a chance to go to college for $50 a semester, a chance that opened a million doors for me. I’m grateful, and I’m determined. That’s why I fight my heart out so that everyone gets a real chance in life, a chance to build something solid, a chance to create their piece of the American dream.
Her staff is already reportedly seeking out a campaign office in Boston.
Sen. Warren may be popular among progressives, but, as former President Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart noted on CNN, "ideological purity" may not be enough for Democrats, who simply want to beat Donald Trump.
Then there's the fact that Warren hasn't been able to shake the scandal regarding her "Native American heritage" and whether she used it to secure a professorial position at Harvard University. She made the odd decision to resurrect the controversy this past year to try and defend herself. It backfired. President Trump remains amused by the whole controversy and prefers to refer to the senator as "Pocahontas."
As it stands, former Vice President Joe Biden is the potential Democratic nominee with the best chance to defeat Trump, according to election experts and recent polling.
The last we checked, Trump was completely unfazed by a potential Warren campaign.