Democrat Elizabeth Warren is a Massachusetts senator known for her consumer advocacy and efforts to weaken big financial institutions. Her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was created in 2011.
Key facts about Elizabeth Warren:
- Current position: Senator from Massachusetts — 6 years served
- Age: 69
- Born: Oklahoma City
- Undergraduate: University of Houston
- Date candidacy announced: Feb. 9, 2018
- % of votes in line with Trump, per FiveThirtyEight: 13.5%
- Previous roles: Law professor; member of Congressional Oversight Panel monitoring the $700 billion TARP bank bailout program; named by President Obama to be a special adviser for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Elizabeth Warren's stance on key issues:
- Wealth tax: She proposed a 2% tax on wealth beyond $50 million and a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion.
- Green New Deal: Signed on as a co-sponsor of the proposal, after previously expressing support for the "idea" of the GND.
- Medicare For All: Co-sponsored Bernie Sanders' bill in September 2017.
- Capitalism: Said she identifies as a "Democrat capitalist," rather than a "democratic socialist." She told Pod Save America she sees "the value of markets and that they can produce a lot of good if they have rules."
Key criticism of Elizabeth Warren:
- Warren has taken heat for her claims of Native American heritage. She commissioned a DNA test in the fall of 2018 to prove she had Cherokee ancestry, which she later apologized for. In February, the Washington Post unearthed a State Bar of Texas registration card in which she listed her race as American Indian.
- President Trump has seized on this issue, frequently pointing it out whenever he mentions her, and referring to Warren as "Pocahontas."
1 fun thing about Elizabeth Warren:
- She was a state debate champion in Oklahoma and graduated high school at 16.
