Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumWhy Aren't More Democrats Endorsing Warren? FiveThirtyEight
Link to tweet
Secondly, electoral considerations aside, there is a center-left wing of the Democratic Party that fundamentally disagrees with Warrens more leftward positions. Its hard to imagine some of these figures endorsing Warren before she has effectively already won the nomination. (That fits with Shors findings Warrens endorsers at the state legislative level are more liberal than the endorsers of any of the other candidates.)
These problems are not unique to Warren. Sanders was perceived as too far to the left by many Democratic elites in 2016; he got very few endorsements back then and is not getting many this cycle, either. (Sen. Amy Klobuchar actually leads Sanders in endorsement points.)
Warren also has a third challenge with party elites that is less obvious. The Massachusetts senator clashed with senior aides to President Obama for much of his tenure in the White House. She, like Sanders, isnt quite in line with the partys establishment. A Warren administration would probably be less likely to hire former Clinton (Bill and Hillary) and Obama aides in key posts than, say, a Biden, Booker or Harris one. So people connected with the party establishment (like many DNC members) may be fine with Warren but prefer other candidates for more self-interested reasons.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Fiendish Thingy
(15,568 posts)it just makes it clearer that she's not a party insider.
BTW, you seemed to have missed 538's article on the dearth of endorsements for ALL Dem candidates, compared to the 2016 cycle.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gothmog
(145,079 posts)I sat three rows behind her at the National Convention
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)If you're having trouble explaining it, or describing it in actual words... Maybe it will be easier if you just give some examples of who a "party insider" or "party elite" might actually be.
Thanks in advance.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Cha
(297,094 posts)where did you get that insult from?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Fiendish Thingy
(15,568 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
RandySF
(58,710 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
bluewater
(5,376 posts)No one is getting many endorsements
This is probably the simplest and best explanation. The clear leader in endorsements is really not Biden, but undecided.
By this point in the 2016 Democratic primary, in contrast, a huge bloc Democratic governors, senators and representatives had chosen a candidate, Hillary Clinton. But this cycle, the overwhelming majority of congressional Democrats and Democratic governors are still on the sidelines.1 Indeed, the 2020 Democratic primary looks more like the 2016 Republican primary, when most GOP officials held their fire until deep into the race, than that years Democratic race.
It's a balanced article, the OP author just chose to highlight certain parts.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gothmog
(145,079 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Skya Rhen
(2,701 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
bluewater
(5,376 posts)538 says NO ONE is getting many endorsements:
No one is getting many endorsements
This is probably the simplest and best explanation. The clear leader in endorsements is really not Biden, but undecided.
By this point in the 2016 Democratic primary, in contrast, a huge bloc Democratic governors, senators and representatives had chosen a candidate, Hillary Clinton. But this cycle, the overwhelming majority of congressional Democrats and Democratic governors are still on the sidelines.1 Indeed, the 2020 Democratic primary looks more like the 2016 Republican primary, when most GOP officials held their fire until deep into the race, than that years Democratic race.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)I don't feel like I need to endorse anyone yet with the election more than a year away, but she's bona fide with me.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BlueMTexpat
(15,366 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
bluewater
(5,376 posts)This is probably the simplest and best explanation. The clear leader in endorsements is really not Biden, but undecided.
By this point in the 2016 Democratic primary, in contrast, a huge bloc Democratic governors, senators and representatives had chosen a candidate, Hillary Clinton. But this cycle, the overwhelming majority of congressional Democrats and Democratic governors are still on the sidelines.1 Indeed, the 2020 Democratic primary looks more like the 2016 Republican primary, when most GOP officials held their fire until deep into the race, than that years Democratic race.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
bluewater
(5,376 posts)For a variety of reasons, we opted not to track endorsements from groups (as opposed to individuals). So that leaves out, for example, Warren winning the backing of the Working Families Party, a liberal activist group that has chapters in 15 states and is influential in places like New York. Several of the other candidates, including Sanders, pushed hard for that endorsement, and it may be more valuable than the backing of a handful of members of Congress.
A strict count of formal endorsements also leaves out less official institutional support. The liberal activist groups under the broader Indivisible umbrella, MSNBC (particularly its more left-leaning hosts like Rachel Maddow) and Pod Save America arent likely to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary. But the general ethos of those organizations is closer to Republicans are morally bankrupt and must be confronted aggressively, than Democrats can work with Mitch McConnell. (Biden hints at the latter, Warren the former.)
Lara Putnam, a historian at the University of Pittsburgh who has studied Democratic activist groups like Indivisible that have emerged after the 2016 campaign, says that many individual Indivisible chapters dont want to formally endorse a candidate in the primary. They fear endorsements would create divides and make it harder for those groups to unify for the general election. But Putnam also says that many of the activists involved in post-2016 anti-Trump organizing are backing Warren. And they are acting on that support through, say, Facebook groups that are separate from the respective larger anti-Trump groups these activists are also affiliated with. (An informal August poll done of its members by national Indivisible also showed Warren as the activists favorite.)
Warren has a large number of potentially very influential supporters in the local grassroots space, and they are also the people most opposed to using public endorsements as a means of pressure to shape [the] primary contest, said Putnam.
Similarly, we are tracking the designated Democratic leader in state legislatures around the country, so we counted Georgia House Minority Leader Robert Trammells endorsement of Harris, for example. But the endorsement of Warren by Lorena Gonzalez, a rising star in the state House in California, a hugely important primary state, isnt captured in the FiveThirtyEight tracker, even though Gonzalezs backing may be more significant than Trammells. Molly Kelly, who was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 in New Hampshire, is also backing Warren; thats another fairly high-profile endorsement that doesnt fit our metrics. Warren has the most endorsements from state legislators in Iowa, which might be more significant than federal legislators or state legislative leaders.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Doremus
(7,261 posts)Exactly the reason she would be a fine president at this moment in history, particularly.
Edit to add:
Let's not forget Wall Street's stated threat to endorse Trump if Warren is the nominee. Let's try to grasp the many reasons they would say such a thing and try not to self immolate again.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
marlakay
(11,446 posts)Not the DNC, the democratic leaders, etc.
This has nothing to do with Warren. If we all vote for Biden fine, but I want it to be us not the leaders pushing us towards a certain person.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided