Elizabeth Warren supporters finally give up on 2016
According to a Tuesday story in The Hill, the group "Run Warren Run" will close its doors and suspend operations Monday. The pro-Warren group had relentlessly urged her to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016, even as Warren herself insisted again and again that she had zero interest in the race.
Warren, a populist senator known for taking on Wall Street, inspired widespread support among liberal activists and presidential speculation during her successful 2012 campaign for the Senate. Many of those same activists are wary about Clinton's close ties to the big-money Democratic establishment and wanted Warren to offer a clear contrast to the front-runner.
But Run Warren Run, which was spearheaded by Democracy for America and MoveOn.org Political Action, has apparently come to terms with the idea that Warren won't launch a White House bid in 2016. The groups say they've instead decided to focus on supporting Warren's work in the Senate.
Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn's executive director, touted Warren's recent campaign against the Pacific trade deal pushed by President Barack Obama.
"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," Sherman told The Hill.
Despite the tacit acknowledgment that Warren won't run, the executive director of Democracy for America suggested the door is still open for her to jump into the race. He also claimed the draft movement was successful because it's given Warren support for her legislative fights.
"We still think there's plenty of time for Sen. Warren to change her mind," said the executive director, Charles Chamberlain, "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."