We Asked Elizabeth Warren Fans How They Would Convince a Trump Supporter to Vote for Her

They say the explainer-in-chief has a plan for that.

The light rain that spritzed New York City’s Washington Square Park Monday night did not deter thousands of people from standing on benches, climbing trees, and clustering around the fountain to get a glimpse of the one candidate they believed could successfully take on Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

At Warren’s largest rally to date, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts denounced corruption of all kinds, from lobbyists’ political campaign contributions to the lack of transparency about the finances of the sitting president, whom she dubbed “corruption in the flesh.” “Corruption has broken our economy, and corruption is breaking our democracy,” Warren, wearing a bright purple blazer, told the crowd, which numbered somewhere between the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 and the Warren campaign’s estimate of 20,000.

The Warren supporters we spoke to said that her populist political ideology and emphasis on major societal change could give her an edge over Trump, who campaigned on similarly anti-establishment grounds in 2016. 

“I think that Elizabeth Warren offers a lot to [Trump’s] supporters that are concerned about the economy and their place in it,” said Nancy Brandwein, a 60-year-old freelance writer who attended the rally. “He talked all about being anti-establishment…but she’s walked the walk. She has worked on fighting corruption and breaking up the banks.”

Listen to Elizabeth Warren supporters (and a few Warren-curious) explain how they might convince a Trump fan in their lives to vote for the senator from Massachusetts, on this week’s episode of the Mother Jones Podcast (the segment starts at around 16:25):

Garrett Lance, a 28-year-old law student, said that the Trump supporters he knows care about “a sense of decency a sense of moral clarity,” and he thinks that Warren’s overall message, if not her specific plans, will speak to them.

“I don’t know that I would be able to convince some of my Republican friends that Medicare for All is the best health care plan, even if that’s something I may believe,” he said. “But I do think I can convince them that she is a woman who fights for what she believes and she fights for people—in my opinion—all across this country. And we’ve seen time and again that Trump is a man that really cares first and foremost about himself and about his friends.”

Another Warren supporter, Idris Mignott, 57, who works in non-profit fundraising, said he thinks Warren’s message of change would appeal to people who voted for Trump in 2016 but did not see his promises fulfilled. “A lot of people elected Trump on the idea of big structural change,” he said. “Elizabeth Warren is for big structural change. She’s about really draining the swamp.”

And, he added, “She’s someone who can win.”

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We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

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If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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