"She's not waiting": Warren heads to Iowa for weekend of campaigning
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren stands in front of a crowd in Iowa. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is spending the weekend in Iowa, giving the 2020 Democratic primary an early kickoff while remaining the party's only heavyweight to have entered the field.
The big picture: Warren hasn't technically announced her candidacy — opting at this stage to instead launch an "exploratory committee" — but her event in Iowa on Friday had "all the hallmarks of a candidate meant to last," notes the New York Times' Astead Herndon. Rather than wait around for Bernie Sanders or other women to declare, Warren is already laser focused on "building her network in a crucial state," Democratic political consultant Joe Trippi tells the Boston Globe.
Details: Herndon reports that Warren's stump speech looks like it will center on her "humble roots," with an emphasis on her father's illness, her brother's military service and a near foreclosure on her family home.
- At a speech on Saturday, Warren was asked about her decision to take and publicize a DNA test that showed she was between 1/32 and 1/1,024 Native American — a move many saw as a PR blunder that damaged her candidacy. She answered, "I'm not a person of color and I'm not a member of a tribe. My decision was just that, I'm going to put it all out there."
- Warren's trip to Iowa is "a crucial test of her appeal beyond Massachusetts," the Globe reports, as voters may have "some discomfort with her willingness to tangle so openly with the president and other Republicans."
The bottom line: Warren is the first prominent Democrat to travel to Iowa as an openly declared candidate in the 2020 race, but other potential candidates like Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) were making the rounds far before her. She may be early as far as official candidates go, but the field is going to become a lot more crowded as the next wave of Democrats throw their hats in the ring.
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