Warren book reflects on losing 2020 bid: ‘Painful’

In a forthcoming memoir, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reflects on losing her bid for the 2020 Democratic nomination, describing it as “painful.”

Warren reflects on her loss in the memoir “Persist,” according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. The book scheduled to be published early this month.

Warren entered the crowded field of Democrats seeking to replace former President Trump in February 2019. After less than a year campaigning, she ended her bid in March 2020.

The Massachusetts Democrat largely ran on progressive policies including “Medicare for All” and a two-cent wealth tax for the wealthiest Americans. She argued that America needed to fix a corrupt financial system. 

Pre-primary polls showed Warren in the top echelon of candidates. However, the senator never finished above third place in any primary contest.

In “Persist,” Warren wonders if she wasn’t good enough to reassure voters of her chance to beat Trump in a crowded field of candidates, according to The Post.

“In this moment, against this president, in this field of candidates, maybe I just wasn’t good enough to reassure the voters, to bring along the doubters, to embolden the hopeful,” Warren said, adding that the thought is “painful.”

But Warren offers other reasons for why her 2020 bid failed.

In her book, Warren largely attributes her loss to a flailing effort to explain how to pay for Medicare for All, according to the Post. She also says that she had to run in the shadow of former secretary of State Hillary and Clinton and Martha Coakley, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2010.

“I had to run against the shadows of Martha and Hillary,” Warren said, suggesting that Democrats feared nominating a woman who might lose to Trump again.

Henry Holt and Company first announced “Persist” in December. The publisher said at the time that it would be released in late April.

Warren said at the time that the book is “especially personal” because “I bring the pieces of who I am to the fight for real change, and I passionately believe that we are in a moment when extraordinary changes are possible.”