Former Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) has announced Thursday morning that he will be making a last-minute entrance in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary, according to a campaign video.
In an interview, Patrick told CBS This Morning that he wants to “reach for the best of America. Not just the best of our party, not just the best of our supporters, but the best of America, and that’s going to come from a whole lot of people who have checked out and have felt, I think rightly, left out and left back. What we want to do is bring them back in.”
Patrick’s message contrasts sharply with that of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has made a bevy of far-left promises, including that she can deliver a $52 trillion “Medicare For All” plan without raising middle class taxes, as reported by the National Review.
Patrick does not support “Medicare For All,” but he told CBS he would be open to having Medicare available as a public option. The stance appears similar to that of Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has proposed “medicare for all who want it.”
Another point of distinction between Patrick and Warren is his lack of enthusiasm for Warren’s proposed wealth tax. Although he believes that “taxes should go up on the most prosperous and the most fortunate” and having a “wealth tax makes a lot of sense directionally,” Patrick contends that a more simple tax system, without “most of the deductions,” remains a better approach.
In an apparent effort to distance himself from Warren’s demonization of billionaires, Patrick also told CBS that he doesn’t believe “wealth is a problem,” and that “we want to encourage people to aspire, just like I have, to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and move into the middle class and beyond.”
Over the last 24 hours, Warren has only doubled down on her attack on the wealthy, releasing a campaign mug that bears the slogan “Billionaire Tears.” But by selling the novelty mug using the e-commerce platform Shopify, Warren is supporting Tobi Lutke, the billionaire founder of Shopify who made it possible for her campaign to easily sell the mug in the first place.
After serving as the Massachusetts governor, Patrick joined Bain Capital, an investment firm founded by Mitt Romney, where he led a “social impact investing” group called Bain Double Impact, according to Axios. Patrick resigned from Bain Capital amid his decision to run for president, reports the news agency.
Patrick faces a clear uphill battle, as the November Democratic presidential primary debate is just around the corner and the deadline to qualify has already passed. In order to make the cut for the next debate in December, Patrick will need 4% support in four national or early-state polls — or 6% in two early-state polls — in addition to reaching 200,000 unique donors.
Regardless, Patrick told CBS News that he is running because “there is an opportunity, right now, for big ideas, as big as the challenges we face, and in the crafting and development of those ideas, to bring us together.”