Claremont
For years, profits have been prioritized above every day families who struggle to send their children to daycare and pay mounting health care costs, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts told nearly 300 people gathered at the Common Man Inn and Restaurant.
“I’m going to fight this fight as hard as I can, as long as I can, as fully as I can. And I’ll bring as many people along with me in this fight as humanly possible,” she said.
Warren said her message of economic populism rings particularity true in Claremont, which has struggled to mount a comeback to its heyday as a manufacturing hub.
“Claremont lies right at the heart of the question that faces our country: Will Washington continue to work only for the rich and powerful, or will it work for everyone else?” she said shortly before the event. “The answer to that question tells us how we’re going to build a future going forward.”
America has seen its wealth increase since the 1930s, and nearly every citizen benefited from that rising wealth into the 1980s, Warren said. It’s then that a more select group of wealthy people began reaping in an ever-greater share, she said.
And the reason for that change isn’t solely new technology or globalization, Warren stressed.
“It has to do with the rules set in Washington, rules that determine whether or not working families are going to have a real shot at building a future, rules that determine whether or not a town like Claremont is going to have a change to participate in a 21st-century economy,” she said.
Claremont, and cities like it, are beautiful, friendly and could attract more people if the government were willing to invest in them, Warren said, touting the need for more education and infrastructure spending.
She also called on the government to “enforce the rules so that small businesses have a change to grow.” Those include regulations against monopolies and a return to net neutrality, Obama-era rules that forbid internet providers from blocking or slowing down content.
The campaign event, and a Friday afternoon stop in New London, marked Warren’s second trip to the Granite State since forming an exploratory committee for the 2020 campaign late last month.
The senator spoke before a crowd of about 450 people at Manchester Community College last weekend before taking a message of progressive populism to a house party in Concord.
In a roughly hourlong talk on Friday, Warren outlined how progressive policies could help working-class families. Universal health care could help Americans stop worrying about medical bills, she said, and a greater investment in public college would stave off student loan debt.
“Health care is a basic human right,” she declared to applause.
The senator also provided examples from her personal life, talking about how her mother took a minimum wage job to prevent the family from losing its home. Warren herself took a part-time waitressing job to pay $50 a semester for a four-year degree.
“It happened because the rest of America invested in those public schools and they said, ‘If you’re a kid who’s going to work hard and going to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, we’re willing to come part way with you,’ ” Warren said. “Today, it’s exactly reversed.”
She also railed against the ongoing government shutdown, and called on Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to allow a vote on spending bills approved in December.
“We don’t hold federal workers hostage. Open the government and open it now,” she said.
Many of the themes highlighted by Warren were similar to those championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during his 2016 presidential campaign. He hasn’t yet announced another presidential run, but could draw many of the same progressive supporters that Warren would rely on to win New Hampshire.
Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton by a 22-point margin in the first-in-the-nation primary, potentially putting an end to New Hampshire’s status as “Clinton country.” The Vermonter also took Claremont by more than 900 votes.
Clinton later won the Granite State in the general election, winning about 2,700 more votes than Donald Trump.
But Warren downplayed potential contest against Sanders on Friday, saying the two are longtime friends.
“I used to come on Bernie’s radio show and have worked with Bernie on a lot of different projects through the years. I count him as a good friend,” she said.
“I don’t ever talk about other people,” Warren added. “I talk about my vision of what we need to do to make changes. We’re running out of time and we need to be in this fight.”
Sanders supports at Friday’s event said they’re open to hearing from new candidates, so long as they promote similar ideals.
“You look at the bumper of my car, it’s got a Bernie bumper sticker and a Hillary bumper sticker all over it,” said Unity resident Neal Kirk, who attended the event with Marjorie Erickson.
Both are self-described “democratic socialists” who supported Sanders in 2016. However, they’re open to hearing from anyone who supports single-payer health care and free college tuition.
“Elizabeth’s supportive of all those,” Erickson said of Warren, adding she’s looking for a candidate who can bring unity to the party — and to the country.
“I think it comes down to is there a Democratic candidate that can unify and have that positive message to make us feel good about ourselves, as opposed to wanting to duke it out with everybody?” she said.
Grantham resident Nick Sylvain said he hopes Warren ultimately decides to run. Although he voted for Sanders during the 2016 primary, he likes Warren’s proposals to hold financial institutions accountable, address corruption and help reduce student debt.
“It seems like she has a very evidence-based approach to decision- and policy-making,” he said, adding that facts seemed to matter less during the last election.
Tim Came rato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com.