Reuters/Rachel Mummey
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on a campaign swing through Fairfield, Iowa.
- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren has forged a political identity as a fighter who wants to level the playing field for the American middle class.
- Now she is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency, centering her campaign on a progressive vision to tilt the economic scales of power away from corporations and the rich.
- Warren's life trajectory has taken her from the prairies of Oklahoma to the classrooms of Harvard Law School and finally into the halls of Congress.
- Here's how a spirited academic became an influential senator and now a leading contender for the presidency.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has forged a political identity as a fighter aiming to level the playing field for the American middle class. First a respected academic, Warren started rising to national prominence after the 2008 financial crisis. When she arrived to Washington, she blasted the lack of government accountability for the banks and financiers that nearly caused an economic meltdown.
Then she ran for the Senate in 2012 and won a competitive race against Republican incumbent Scott Brown, becoming the first female senator to represent Massachusetts.
Now she is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency, centering her campaign on a progressive vision to tilt the economic scales of power away from corporations and the rich.
On the campaign trail, she regularly talks about a critical juncture in her childhood: her mother's decision to get a minimum-wage job answering phones at Sears.
In the 1960s, Warren's father suffered a heart attack. He then lost his job as a salesman in Oklahoma City, and their options were very limited. Suddenly, the Warren family risked losing their home and were on the brink of financial ruin.
She credits her mother's job with keeping the family out of poverty, which gave them the money to pay the bills and stay afloat during hard times.
"It's a story about government. And about no matter how hard you work, the rules made by the people in government will still make the big difference in your life," she said at a presidential candidate forum earlier this year.
Here's how a spirited academic became an influential senator and now a leading contender for the presidency: