Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is shaping the policies of former Vice President Joe Biden as he continues to shift to the left, according to a report by the Axios.com political news website.
Axios cites several pieces of evidence (original emphasis):
Driving the news: The climate plan Biden touted in a speech this week includes an expedited target date for 100% clean electricity on a timetable favored by Warren and another former contender, Jay Inslee, as Reuters noted.
- Several elements of Biden’s economic recovery plan released last week were directly influenced by Warren and her team, three people familiar with the discussions told Axios and Biden campaign officials confirmed.
The big picture: Biden has so far publicly adopted at least six policy stances shaped by Warren and her team.
Those “six policy stances” are somewhat unclear, but Axios reports: “For his “Build Back Better” economic recovery plan, three sources familiar told Axios that the Biden and Warren teams consulted closely together on this plan and many of Warren’s ideas are reflected in it.”
Axios stresses that Warren is still in contention to be Biden’s running mate. He has committed to picking a woman, and is under pressure to pick a “woman of color.” But Axios argues that Warren “can authentically speak to the concerns of Black communities.”
Pundits have struggled to understand Biden’s move to the left.
The Washington Post recently reported that Biden had become “much more liberal.” Biden recently embraced many ideas from former rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the “Biden-Sanders Unity” platform, and has even adopted Sanders’s radical rhetoric.
Earlier this week, Biden said that America is ready for “systemic” and “institutional” changes. In May, he said the coronavirus was a chance to “fundamentally transform” America. In June, he called for “revolutionary institutional changes.” And earlier this month, Biden promised to “transform” America, promising to ” rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.”
The Warren theory appears to be the latest attempt to explain Biden’s leftward lurch since the primary. Typically, candidates track back toward the center after winning their party’s nomination.
President Donald Trump has argued that Warren’s refusal to drop out of the primary race before Super Tuesday cost Sanders the nomination.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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