Elizabeth Warren to travel to Iowa after kicking off presidential campaign
Elizabeth Warren may not have officially announced that she is running for president, but she is taking on a candidate's schedule. After announcing the creation of an exploratory committee for president on Dec. 31, Warren is ringing in the new year by heading to Iowa, the critical first caucus state in the 2020 Democratic primaries.
Warren will travel to four Iowa cities during her brief time in the state. On Friday, she is headlining an organizing event in Council Bluffs. She will attend two organizing events in Sioux City and Des Moines on Saturday, as well as a round table in Storm Lake.
Warren announced the creation of an exploratory committee in an email to supporters and video message on social media on Monday. She told reporters that she planned to begin traveling to the early-voting primary and caucus states as soon as possible in the new year. The exploratory committee will enable her to raise money to pay for that travel and to hire staff for this effort.
"The problem we've got right now in Washington is that it works great for those who've got money to buy influence, and I'm fighting against that, and you bet it's going to make a lot of people unhappy," said Warren, who spoke in generalities when reporters asked about her reason for running Monday afternoon.
In her letter to supporters Monday morning, Warren said that she "never in a zillion years" thought she would run for office. By afternoon, Warren claimed she had already received donations from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
Although the Iowa caucuses are over a year away, politicians are already decamping to the state. Former Rep. John Delaney has been running for president since 2017, and has spent the past two years building relationships in the state. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker made several trips to Iowa before the midterm election, as have Sen. Kamala Harris, of California, and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Several more Democrats are expected to announce presidential bids in the coming weeks.
Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report