Sen. Elizabeth Warren lays out vision for a ‘big tent’ Democratic Party

WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., laid out her vision for a “big tent” Democratic Party on Monday while taking direct aim at the party figures she says are holding it back.

“A Democratic Party that cares more about offending big donors than serving working people is a party doomed to failure – in 2026, 2028 and beyond,” Warren said in a speech to the National Press Club.

The former presidential candidate sought to lay a marker for her vision as Democrats seek a way out of the political wilderness after losing the 2024 election. The power struggle within the parties includes divisions over policy and messaging. And in an unusual move for a Democrat, Warren specifically called out, by name, the people and groups she considers to be part of the problem.

She said some Democrats were seeking to “water down their economic agenda to attract wealthy donors” and, in doing so, “squander the trust of working people” to benefit the rest of the party.

“There are two visions of what a big tent means. One says we should shape our agenda and temper our rhetoric to pander to any fabulously wealthy person looking for a political party that will consolidate their own economic interests,” Warren said. “The other view says we must recognize the economic failures of the current rigged system, aggressively challenge the status quo, and chart a clear path for major structural change. »

“If we are to pick up the broken pieces of the 2024 election and build a lasting big tent, we must recognize a hard truth: The Democratic Party cannot pursue both visions at the same time. We either politely chip away at the edges of change or throw ourselves into the fight,” she added.

The former 2020 presidential candidate denounced “a lukewarm and timid approach” while identifying the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm as part of the problem.

“This approach has also been a good way to appeal to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee when it decides which primary candidates it will support,” she said. “But you don’t have to be a political genius to conclude that in a democracy, when the choice is between ‘making the rich rich’ and ‘helping everyone’, winning elections means choosing ‘everyone’.

Asked to respond, DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle said, “The DSCC has one goal: winning a Democratic majority in the Senate. We have created a path to get there this cycle by recruiting formidable candidates and expanding the map, building a strong infrastructure for the general election, and disqualifying Republican opponents.”

Warren also went after Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman as “the same billionaire who donated $7 million to support Kamala Harris and then spent much of the campaign publicly pressuring her to fire Lina Khan as FTC chair” despite having ties to companies with cases before the commission.

“Admittedly, the vice president did not promise to fire Lina Khan. But she also did not promise not to fire her,” Warren said, referring to the progressive who has since advised New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Warren also went after former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent who decided not to run for reelection in 2024, for blocking a minimum wage increase and “protecting hedge fund managers from paying taxes and blocking filibuster reform” during her time in office.

“Sinema has faced no consequences from its president or its leaders in Washington,” she said. “Ultimately, it was her own voters who threw her out of the Senate.”

Hoffman and Sinema did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Warren also gave a nuanced take on the “abundance” debate that is upsetting parts of the Democratic coalition, sparked by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book. The authors argue that Democrats have lost sight of the need to achieve results on key issues such as infrastructure and housing, seeking instead to satisfy niche coalitions in ways that render government ineffective.

“When this program is about making government more efficient, count me in. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was built with Abundance in mind before Abundance was fashionable,” she said.

But she added: “Abundance has become a rallying cry — not just for a few policy wonks concerned about zoning, but also for wealthy donors and other corporate-aligned Democrats who are putting a lot of effort into making Democrats more friendly to big business. »

In a question-and-answer session after the speech, Warren sidestepped the question of whether Democrats should be willing to compromise on social issues such as guns, abortion and immigration to expand their coalition. She said Americans are struggling economically to make ends meet and that “I want to be where the American people are right now.”

“It’s our economic message that needs to be the tip of the Democrats’ spear,” she said. “That’s what the American people are telling us.”