Who does the Draft Elizabeth Warren crowd support now?
These New Hampshire Democrats wanted Elizabeth Warren to run for president. Here’s who they’re supporting now.
Back in March, before anyone had announced a 2016 presidential bid, 27 New Hampshire legislators and former legislators signed a letter addressed to Elizabeth Warren. Its message: run for president.
By June, however, Run Warren Run was closing its doors and its supporters were faced with the question of who they would support in a Warren-less Democratic primary.
In August, state Sen. David Watters, perhaps the group’s most prominent underwriter, endorsed Hillary Clinton in a local op-ed, which was proudly posted by the campaign’s Twitter account.
But not all of the Run Warren Run endorsers have Clinton’s back, at least for now.
Of the current and former members who have decided to publicly endorse a candidate, 10 of them are siding with Sanders. Three are supporting Clinton, with two more who said they are undecided, but leaning Clinton. One representative supports Martin O’Malley.
Six other state represenatives are undecided, two declined to publicly endorse a candidate at this time, and two did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Recent polling has shown a tight contest in New Hampshire between Clinton and Sanders, who some see as having supplanted Warren’s role as the outspoken progressive among Democrats (even though the Vermont senator is a registered independent and self-described democratic socialist).
Sanders supporters provided strikingly similar reasons for why they planned on voting for the Vermont senator — chiefly, his consistency as a progressive advocate and his position against money in politics.
“Bernie and Elizabeth Warren feel very strongly about the same issues, and he’s been at it a lot longer,’’ Rep. Marcia Moody of Newmarket told Boston.com, referring to Sanders’ lengthy tenure in elected office.
“Eliminating big money from elections has particular resonance with me,’’ Rep Len DiSesa of Dover told Boston.com.
The man who organized the letter to draft Warren, according to its signatories, Kurt Ehrenberg, also jumped to the Sanders campaign in May to become its New Hampshire field director. Ehrenberg had been the state field director for Run Warren Run.
Warren-turned-Clinton supporters took a more pragmatic tone. In his endorsement letter, Watters wrote he trusted Clinton’s “core values and policy principles,’’ specifically emphasizing foreign policy.
“Secretary Clinton is the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who has deep foreign policy experience. Republican former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger declared Hillary Clinton “ran the State Department in the most effective way that I’ve ever seen.’’ And current Republican Presidential candidate Lindsey Graham noted she was the “most effective secretary of states, greatest ambassador for the American people that I have known in my lifetime.’’ Strong words indeed, and a testament to her tenacity in getting the job done. It was her work that created the sanctions regime for Iran that enabled the current agreement.’’
Rep. William Pearson of Keene was one of multiple legislators that told Boston.com he was supporting the former Secretary of State, in part because she already had financial backing necessary for the general election.
Between Sanders and Clinton, Peason said he doesn’t see much difference, noting the that the two similar voting records during their two shared years in the Senate.
The New York Times reported they voted the same way 93 percent of the time, though they disagreed on “some the biggest issues of the day,’’ including the bank bailouts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Here’s a complete list of the 27 current and former Warren-backing New Hampshire lawmakers and where they now stand:
Sen. David Watters, Dover — Clinton
Rep. Travis Bennett, Plymouth — Sanders
Rep. David Borden, Rye — Clinton
Rep. Wayne Burton, Durham — Sanders
Rep. John Cloutier, Claremont — Undecided, leaning Clinton
Rep. Renny Cushing, Hampton — Undecided
Rep. Len DiSesa, Dover — Sanders
Rep. Barbara French, Henniker — Declined to publicly endorse
Rep. Daniel Hansberry, Nashua — Undecided
Rep. Frank Heffron, Exeter — Undecided
Rep. Timothy Horrigan, Durham — Undecided
Rep. David Karrick, Warner –Undecided, leaning Clinton
Rep. Douglas Ley, Jaffrey — Clinton
Rep. John Mann, Alstead — Sanders
Rep. Richard McNamara, Hillsborough — Sanders
Rep. Marcia Moody, Newmarket — Sanders
Rep. William Pearson, Keene — Clinton
Rep. Larry Phillips, Keene — Undecided
Rep. Timothy Robertson, Keene — Sanders
Rep. Peter Schmidt, Dover — Undecided
Rep. Gilman Shattuck, Hillsborough — Sanders
Rep. Timothy Smith, Manchester — Declined to publicly endorse
Rep. Charles Townsend, Canaan — O’Malley
Former Sen. Burt Cohen, Newcastle — Sanders
Former Rep. Sylvia Gale, Nashua — Sanders
Former Rep. Kenneth Grossman, Barrington – Did not respond
Former Rep. Chris Muns, Hampton — Did not respond
Who’s running for president in 2016:
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