Squad divided over 2020 as Ayanna Pressley endorses Elizabeth Warren despite Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and Tlaib backing Bernie Sanders
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley stood divided from the rest of the 'squad' as she endorsed the Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for president on Wednesday. The move was in stark contrast to her fellow 'squad' members, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, who all backed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the 2020 elections instead.
Warren and Sanders are the most liberal Democratic presidential candidates in the 2020 race, and these four Congresswomen, popularly known as the 'Squad' in Washington, are some of the most progressive lawmakers in Congress. Pressley's endorsement has come as a boost to Warren as the Congresswoman is a member of Warren's home state's delegation. Pressley is the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
The 45-year-old Congresswoman, in her Warren endorsement video posted on Twitter, said: "You've all heard about the senator's plans — but here's the thing. Her plans are about power: who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it. I have seen Elizabeth in small church basements and in packed gymnasiums. And she is consistent. She never loses sight of the people."
Warren, one of the frontrunners of the 2020 Democratic race, became a target of her Democratic rivals in the last presidential debate as she began rising in the polls last month. Pressley, on Monday, had said she had been approached by the presidential campaigns of Sanders, Warren, and former Vice President Joe Biden for her endorsement.
President Donald Trump, in September, had targeted the 'squad' in a widely-condemned series of tweets, where he asked all the four congresswomen to go "back where they came from." He made the statement despite all the lawmakers being American citizens.
Meanwhile, Sanders has already witnessed a boost in his campaign from the public backing of New York Representative Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib. The Vermont senator suffered a heart attack on October 1, which kept him off the campaign trail until the October 15 Democratic debate in Ohio. The news of the Squad members backing him broke out during the debate.
"It wasn't until I heard of a man by the name of Bernie Sanders that I began to question and assert and recognize my inherent value as a human being that deserves, healthcare, housing, education and a living wage," AOC told a roaring crowd praising Sanders at a rally in New York last month.