Democratic Primaries

fleur-de-lisa

(14,628 posts) Wed Dec 18, 2019, 11:43 AM Dec 2019

Hundreds of Obama alumni endorse Elizabeth Warren

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/18/politics/elizabeth-warren-obama-endorsements/index.html

By Daniella Diaz and MJ Lee, Wed December 18, 2019

Hundreds of veterans of Barack Obama's campaigns and administration have signed on to endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president, as multiple Democratic presidential candidates compete to claim the popular former president's political coalition and legacy.

With the Iowa caucuses less than two months away, more than 200 Obama alumni joined a signature-gathering effort led by a pair of former senior Obama aides, Sara El-Amine and Jon Carson. Among other roles, El-Amine was national director of Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, while Carson was a national field director for Obama's 2008 campaign prior to joining the administration. Both served as executive directors of Organizing for America, the Obama grassroots organizing network.

The list of endorsers shared with CNN includes Robert Ford, ex-US ambassador to Syria, and Sean Carroll, a former senior official at USAID. It also features Obama alumni who are currently working on the Warren campaign full-time including in senior-most positions, like Warren chief strategist Joe Rospars, senior adviser Emily Parcell, national political director Rebecca Pearcey and national director of public engagement Alencia Johnson.

In an interview with CNN, El-Amine and Carson touted the "incredible diversity" of the group that has come out in support of Warren. The 200-plus names were collected in under a week, and they planned to continue growing the list, they said.