Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
PHOTOS: Elizabeth Warren's 2020 campaign kicked off with an Iowa visit that included a selfie stick attack and questions about her recent DNA test
PHOTOS: Elizabeth Warren's 2020 campaign kicked off with an Iowa visit that included a selfie stick attack and questions about her recent DNA test
Dan DeFrancesco,Benjamin Goggin,Benjamin GogginJan 7, 2019, 02:26 IST
Advertisement
Elizabeth Warren embarked on a four-city tour in Iowa over the weekend after announcing she was launching an exploratory committee for president.
Warren traveled to Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Storm Lake and Sioux City.
One attendee questioned Warren's decision to take a DNA test last year to prove her Native American heritage to President Donald Trump.
Outside another event, a Trump supporter was arrested for allegedly assaulting another attendee with a selfie stick.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren finished a four-city tour in Iowa on Sunday, opening 2019 by visiting one of the most critical states on her path towards obtaining her party's nomination for the 2020 presidential race.
On December 31, Warren announced on Twitter and her website that she'd be launching an exploratory committee for president. She followed that up by unveiling plans on Tuesday to travel to Iowa over the weekend, which will hold the first presidential nominating contest for Democratic candidates in a little over a year for the 2020 race.
Every person in America should be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules, & take care of themselves & the people they love. That's what I'm fighting for, & that's why I'm launching an exploratory committee for president. I need you with me: https://t.co/BNl2I1m8OX pic.twitter.com/uXXtp94EvY- Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 31, 2018
Warren, who left Friday for Iowa, visited Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, and Sioux City. The trip was the Massachusetts senator's first public appearance since announcing her consideration of entering the 2020 race, save for speaking to the media outside her home following the announcement.
Advertisement
Here is what you need to know about Warren's trip.
Warren's trip to Iowa comes after she decided not travel to the Hawkeye state during the 2018 midterm elections. She was the only major potential 2020 candidate to not travel to Iowa during that time.
During her first appearance on Friday, Warren took shots at some other potential Democratic candidates, suggesting billionaires would not be able to represent the party. Tom Steyer, an environmentalist and billionaire, and Michael Bloomberg, the former New York Mayor and successful business man, are reportedly considering entering the 2020 race as Democratic candidates.
One of the first questions Warren had to address on her tour was regarding why she chose to take a DNA test last October in response to President Donald Trump's continued criticism of Warren's claims of Native American heritage.
“I am not a person of color. I’m not a citizen of a tribe. Tribal citizenship is very different from ancestry. Tribes and only tribes determine tribal citizenship and I respect that difference," Warren said. "I grew up in Oklahoma and like a lot of folks in Oklahoma, we heard the family stories of our ancestry."
Warren also offered some insight into her decision to take the test: "When I first ran for public office, the first time was in 2012 and the Republicans homed in on this part of my history and thought they could make a lot of hay out of it, a lot of racial slurs and a lot of ugly stuff that went on. ... And so my decision was, we’re just going to put it all out there.”
Prior to Warren's trip to Iowa, Trump had taken another shot at Warren's heritage claims. On Thursday he tweeted a meme originally shared by conservative news site The Daily Wire mocking the results of Warren's DNA test.
Warren said there's nothing she can do when it comes to how Trump chooses to address her: "Now I can’t stop Donald Trump from what he’s gonna do, I can’t stop him from hurling racial insults. ... I don’t have any power to do that."
The tour wasn't without its hiccups. A Trump supporter was arrested Saturday for allegedly assaulting another attendee with a selfie stick outside one of Warren's scheduled appearances in Storm Lake.
Warren was outside the venue chatting with attendees when the Trump supporter, identified by police as a 58-year-old Minnesota native, reportedly displayed a Trump banner and started yelling. One man tried to pull the banner down, leading the Trump supporter to allegedly hit the man on the head with a selfie stick.
Warren's message certainly resonated with many of those in attendance: “I just thought she was great,” said Dave Oslon of Omaha. “She’s a powerful speaker and her ideas are what we need in this country. I think she could be a powerful force in this upcoming election.”
Still, Warren has plenty of work left ahead of her as even those in her home state are unsure of her presidential bid. A poll in September of Massachusetts voters found 58% hoped she didn't run for president. Coincidently, almost the same amount — 57% — view her favorably.
Even the Boston Globe, which urged Warren to run in the 2016 election in an editorial, warned against her making another a bid for the presidential nomination. "Warren missed her moment in 2016," the paper wrote in a December editorial.