Personal Background:
Senator Elizabeth Warren was born on June 22nd, 1949 and is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She grew up in a lower class household, with both parents working odd jobs to try and bring in sufficient pay. A family tragedy left Warren working by age thirteen, and she attended George Washington University through a debate scholarship, but, shortly afterwards, transferred to the University of Houston (1970), gaining a degree in Speech Pathology. She worked as a special education teacher for a brief period of time, before entering into Law School and gaining her degree at Rutgers University. After graduation, she worked as a law professor for several schools, eventually settling for a bit at the prestigious Harvard Law School. Her avid support of the struggling middle class took her right to Congress, where she established the Consumer financial protection bureau. She entered the Senate in 2012 and won again in 2018. Her entrance into the democratic field saw the first serious player enter the field and occurred on February 9th, 2019. She does not take money from any PAC, super or not.
Voting Records and Major Bills sponsored/authored:
Senator Warren currently serves on these committees:
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
Member, Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Member, Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
Senate Committee on Armed Services
Member, Subcommittee on Airland
Member, Subcommittee on Personnel
Member, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Member, Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
Member, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security
Senate Special Committee on Aging
Warren currently has the following ratings by external groups:
Human Rights Campaign: 100%
Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100%
American Civil Liberties Union: 94%
League of Conservation Voters: 94%
NIAC Action: A
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B
United States Chamber of Commerce: 31%
The Club for Growth: 13%
NumbersUSA: 12%
Americans for Prosperity: 5%
FreedomWorks: 0%
Warren’s position in ideology moves towards the more radical, farther left. She is a far left propagator of several issues and has consistently voted with her party on several issues. Her more down to Earth personality has allowed her to call out several issues with ease, and her more humble background further fuels her advocacy for several reform issues. Her more radical endorsements on policies like the Green New Deal, free public college tuition, trade, and war (more in main goals & platforms). Her views have made her a consistent far-left member of the party.
Main Goals & Platforms:
Warren’s main platform stands around many major issues. The main important ones being education, healthcare, and Climate Change. She, like Bernie Sanders, backs free public college tuition, and she has a plan to back it up. She is the first, and currently only, Democrat running for office who fully released a detailed plan. She plans to pay for this with “ultra-millionaire tax”, which would mean that wealthier families would have to pay their fair share in tax. Her investment in the world of education is highly attributable to her past. The scholarships she received were the ones that allowed her to carry on into her higher education.
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Her plan would erase 50,000 dollars from families with incomes less than 100,000. This would continue to erase less and less money up until the cap of 250,000 incomes. Warren’s take on Climate Change is almost as bold as her education plan, stating that, “I support a Green New Deal that will aggressively tackle climate change, economic inequality, and racial injustice.” She delivered a speech to the Senate on March 26th, saying that “Here’s the thing about facts – refusing to believe them doesn’t mean they go away.” She would be a bold candidate who would be fully open to embracing a “radical” climate change deal in progressing the growing environmental concerns. In healthcare, she also fully backs Medicare for all, one of the Universal Health Care programs. She is a pro-choice supporter, one of the biggest advocators for the American middle class, and was strongly supportive of the Dream Act. Recently, one of the more major positions she has taken is that of supporting Trump’s impeachment. She argues that the recently released Mueller Report fully backs up Trump’s case for impeachment. She fully believes that there is enough evidence present to impeach Trump. Since then, Kamala Harris has joined in with her, also endorsing this idea.
Criticisms:
Warren has absolutely had her fair share of criticisms before and currently, during her run. As one of the more stand out candidates, she has been known for more radical stances on issues, instantly making one of her top criticisms that she is “too divisive”. From her never-ending fights with Trump on Twitter to her DNA Test Results, Warren could be exactly what a divided America does not need. Her strong support is fueled by Democrats, and her strong enemy base is fueled by Republicans. Her extremely polarizing profile has kept her at one of the most controversial Democratic figures.
The DNA Test Results were actually a huge mistake for Warren. Warren’s voting card had her listed as Native American. Trump, who called her out on this claim, was met with a firestorm from Warren, who took a DNA Test to prove him wrong. This turned out to be much more problematic than initially foreseen, as Warren offended Native Americans and their belief that being Native American revolved more around tribal sovereignty and citizenship, not flesh and blood. Warren has since apologized privately, and many tribal leaders have forgiven her, and she has regained some lost ground in her own party and the opposite side.
Popularity & Electability:
Warren’s “divisive” capability is going to hurt her when it comes to this part of the election. Although she is one of the frontrunners in the democratic rate, it’s unlikely that she will be popular outside of her own party (and potentially some moderates). However, set aside, Warren’s chances for the nomination have slumped in the recent days. Her polling has dropped to about 9% in Iowa, which is still far ahead of most of the other Democrats running, being edged out by Buttigieg, Biden, and Sanders. In the general election, many predict she will lose on a narrow margin to Trump if chosen. She also has a pretty high approval rate in her home state, standing at a solid 79.8%. The real question with Warren, that is too early to answer at this point in the game, is her projected performance within the general election, and whether or not she would be able to edge out Trump in the 2020 election.
Warren’s strong presence in the Democratic field is likely to boost her along the road to the election, but her divisibility may ultimately harm her. However, within the party itself, Warren is definitely an early front runner and has a fair chance at clinching the nomination for president.
Featured Image Via Elizabeth Warren
