‘I think a lot of the donor base, on board and coming, would prefer almost anyone but Elizabeth…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Presidential candidate Joe Biden is facing pressure from big donors not to choose Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as his running mate.
Warren, who is ideologically far to the left of Biden, reportedly was among the many women on Biden’s shortlist of potential vice-president picks.
But facing backlash from concerned donors and establishment operatives, Biden may have begun to reconsider, CNBC reported.
“I think a lot of the donor base, on board and coming, would prefer almost anyone but Elizabeth,” one longtime Biden fundraiser told CNBC on Thursday. “I don’t see him choosing her for veep.”
Many of Biden’s donors worry that Warren would lead Biden to lose the election, given her extreme, anti-corporate agenda.
Instead, they’ve pushed the campaign away from Warren and toward alternatives perceived to be slightly less radical, such as Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as well as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
During the course of her primary campaign, Warren became too radical for many of the Democrats who used to support her, said John Morgan, a Florida businessman and Biden supporter.
At one point, it seemed like she was trying “to out-Bernie Bernie,” said Morgan, referencing maverick socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“There are two Elizabeth Warrens,” Morgan explained.
“The one I had in my home when she was a U.S. senator and consumer champion—she was awesome,” he said. “Then came Warren the socialist. That is her dilemma.”
However, fearing that alienated “Bernie Bros” may opt to sit out the November election, Biden is still seeking to appease far-left progressives.
He’s already adopted a few of Warren’s policies, and his campaign hired two of her fundraising advisors last week.
While his backers have not been shy about expressing the need for big-money donors to step up and fill the void during the ongoing health crisis, rhetorically at least, Biden has tried to find solidarity with Warren’s crowd by keeping Wall Street at arm’s length.
“Look, you know Wall Street is—they’re good folks,” Biden said during a virtual donor event last week. “But guess what: They didn’t build America. Ordinary Americans, middle class built America.”
Biden’s campaign announced on Thursday that it had put together a VP vetting committee, which includes former U.S. senator-turned-lobbyist Christopher Dodd and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.