Elizabeth Warren urges Michigan voters to ‘vote from your heart’ as she lags in early Super Tuesday results

Elizabeth Warren faced arguably the biggest test of her presidential candidacy on Super Tuesday — and as early results showed her trailing in several states, the Massachusetts senator took the stage in Michigan and told her supporters to discount the pundits and “vote from your heart.”

Warren has been off to a rough start in the 2020 primaries. She entered Super Tuesday — where voters in 14 states, including her own, cast ballots — having yet to finish above third place in a nominating contest. And she was locked in such a tight race with Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in Massachusetts that many spent the run-up to Tuesday’s primary here wondering whether Warren would lose her home state.

“I’m not worried,” Warren said. “I am happy to be part of this democratic process.”

More than a third of the pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination, 1,344, are up for grabs in today’s Super Tuesday sweep, including 91 from Warren’s own Massachusetts. Snapping up as many of those delegates as possible has become a major focus for the Warren campaign after she faltered in the four early states.

Warren said the goal was to “compete everywhere” on Super Tuesday. “We’re in all of the states today and I feel like this has been our chance to get our message out.”

But Warren was long gone from Massachusetts — and any of the 14 states that voted Tuesday — by the time polls began to close, instead making her pitch to voters in Detroit, Mich., which holds its primary next Tuesday.

In a Democratic primary cycle dominated by electability, Warren urged voters to “cast a vote that will make you proud. Cast a vote from your heart. And vote for the person you think will make the best president.”

At home in Cambridge, Warren shrugged off moves by former competitors Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar; former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; and former Texas U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday as moderates rushed to coalesce around a single candidate to take on Sanders.

“I think that that’s where their politics were all along. I don’t think there’s anything surprising here,” Warren said.

Throngs of supporters lined the street outside Warren’s home in Cambridge to cheer her on as the Massachusetts senator walked the few blocks between her house and her polling location at the Graham & Parks School, her husband Bruce Mann and beloved golden retriever Bailey in tow.

Cambridge Vice Mayor Alanna Mallon said it was “absolutely” important to put on a show of support after Sanders’ rallies in Boston and Springfield over the weekend.

She added, “This is a really hard and grueling thing that she’s doing. And coming home, being in her home and walking to her polling place, I think it was really important for her to see the support.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/39s8TuY