Sen. Elizabeth Warren just can’t catch a break. Now, even her hometown newspaper is suggesting that maybe she should just forget about a run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Warren missed her moment in 2016, and there’s reason to be skeptical of her prospective candidacy in 2020,” the Boston Globe wrote in an editorial on Friday.
While Warren won reelection, her margin of victory in November suggests there’s a ceiling on her popularity; Baker garnered more votes than she did in a state that is supposed to be a Democratic haven. Meanwhile, a September poll indicated that Massachusetts voters were more enthusiastic about Patrick making a White House bid than Warren.
Those are warning signs from the voters who know her best. While Warren is an effective and impactful senator with an important voice nationally, she has become a divisive figure. A unifying voice is what the country needs now after the polarizing politics of Donald Trump.
In the end, the Globe says Warren might want to do what two-term former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick just did: He had considered a 2020 run, but on Thursday announced he would stay out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Politicians who ‘explore’ or ‘consider’ presidential campaigns set in motion a machine that can be hard to stop. Patrick did, and that’s to his credit. There’s no shame in testing the waters and deciding to stay on the beach,” the Globe said.
The Globe’s editorial board had been a Warren backer in 2015, when the senator mulled a run against then-GOP candidate Donald Trump. “Democrats would be making a big mistake if they let Hillary Clinton coast to the presidential nomination without real opposition, and, as a national leader, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren can make sure that doesn’t happen. While Warren has repeatedly vowed that she won’t run for president herself, she ought to reconsider,” the editorial board wrote then.
But Warren’s stock has dropped dramatically since she came out two months ago with a DNA test that showed she’s almost completely white, despite her claims to have Native American blood coursing through her veins. The New York Times, in a Thursday piece headlined, “Elizabeth Warren Stands by DNA Test. But Around Her, Worries Abound,” had some blunt criticism for the 2020 wannabe.
… [N]early two months after Ms. Warren released the test results and drew hostile reactions from prominent tribal leaders, the lingering cloud over her likely presidential campaign has only darkened. Conservatives have continued to ridicule her. More worrisome to supporters of Ms. Warren’s presidential ambitions, she has yet to allay criticism from grass-roots progressive groups, liberal political operatives and other potential 2020 allies who complain that she put too much emphasis on the controversial field of racial science — and, in doing so, played into Mr. Trump’s hands.
Advisers close to Ms. Warren say she has privately expressed concern that she may have damaged her relationships to Native American groups and her own standing with activists, particularly those who are racial minorities. Several outside advisers are even more worried: They say they believe a plan should be made to repair that damage, possibly including a strong statement of apology.
Related: NYT: Elizabeth Warren May Have Destroyed Herself With That DNA Test