- Elizabeth
Warren | Interest
Groups « Run Warren Run
« Press
Release
on
Suspending
the
Campaign
Tuesday,
June 2, 2015
CONTACT:
Neil Sroka
Brian Stewart
Democracy for America and MoveOn.org to Suspend Run Warren Run Campaign, Deliver 365,000 Signatures to Sen. Warren
Groups point to the presidential race’s focus on income inequality and populist progressives’ increasing power as key accomplishments.
Six
months after launching a major campaign to encourage Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to run for president, the groups
behind the Run Warren Run effort announced
today that they will suspend their participation in the draft effort on
Monday, June 8 after delivering a petition with 365,000 signatures
asking Sen. Warren to run.
Democracy
for America and MoveOn.org Political Action launched the Run Warren Run campaign in December 2014 with a
commitment to invest at least $1.25 million after supermajorities of
both groups’ members voted in support. Over the following six months,
hundreds of thousands of Americans, the Boston
Globe,
the New York Working Families Party, prominent cultural figures, and
elected officials and grassroots leaders in Iowa and New Hampshire
joined the call for Sen. Warren to run. So too
did dozens of nationally prominent progressive leaders including Van
Jones, Larry Cohen, Zephyr Teachout, Annie Leonard, and Lawrence
Lessig,
who
headlined
a
Run
Warren Run event
in New York in April.
On
June 8, Run Warren Run supporters will deliver
to Sen. Warren’s Washington, D.C., office a
petition with more than 365,000 signatures asking Sen. Warren
to enter the presidential race. The groups will then rest their case
and suspend their draft effort, pivoting their focus to working
alongside Sen. Warren and other progressive
populists on issue fights like defeating Fast Track negotiating
authority for the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Since
its launch, the Run Warren Run campaign has:
- - Signed up more than 365,000 Americans who believe Sen. Warren’s vision and track record would make her a great candidate;
- - Opened field offices in Iowa (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids) and New Hampshire (Manchester), hired field organizers in both states, and built a network of local, grassroots leaders in these key early states committed to encouraging Sen. Warren to run;
- - Recruited more than 60 state legislators and local party leaders from Iowa and New Hampshire to join the Run Warren Run effort;
- - Held more than 400 events, including rallies, house parties, teach-ins, honk-and-waves, and other events in nearly every state;
- - Been endorsed by dozens of prominent organizational leaders, elected officials, celebrities, and other progressives;
- - Generated coverage in thousands of news stories
elevating Sen. Warren’s voice and demonstrating a groundswell of
grassroots support for her leadership—setting the stage for the
presidential race and changing the dynamics of important debates in
Washington.
“Even without her in the race, Elizabeth Warren and the Run Warren
Run campaign she inspired have already transformed the 2016
presidential election by focusing every single Democratic candidate on
combatting our country’s income inequality crisis,” said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of
Democracy for America. “We still think there’s
plenty of time for Sen. Warren to change her
mind, but now that we’ve shown that she has the support
she would need to mount a winning a campaign, we’re excited to take the
grassroots juggernaut we’ve built with our members and stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with Warren in the
battles ahead.”
“The
Run Warren Run campaign has changed the
conversation by showing that Americans are hungry for Elizabeth Warren’s agenda—an agenda that rejects the rigged
status quo in Washington and puts working and middle-class Americans
over corporate interests,” said Ilya
Sheyman,
executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action.
“We’ve
assembled
a
grassroots
army
and
demonstrated
the
substantial
support Sen. Warren could expect if she were
to enter the race. Now it’s time to suspend our active draft efforts
and pivot to standing alongside Sen. Warren on
the big fights ahead, starting with stopping Fast Track for the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
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