Elizabeth Warren Endorses Joe Biden For President

More than a month after ending her presidential campaign, Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden for the nation's highest office.

"In this moment of crisis, it's more important than ever that the next president restores Americans' faith in good, effective government,” Warren said in a tweet Wednesday morning.

Warren also released a video that tells Biden's life-story — from the tragic death of his first wife and child in a car crash, to his early years as a Senator, to his service as President Obama's vice president.

"Joe Biden has spent nearly his entire life in public service," Warren says in the video. "He knows that a government run with integrity, competence and heart will save lives and save livelihoods."

Warren's endorsement of Biden follows those of Former President Barack Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this week. And it comes weeks after other former rivals, former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, threw their support to Biden, which helped propel him to a series of primary victories on Super Tuesday.

Warren, who was the first major candidate to jump into the race for president, ran far to the left of Biden. Her differences with the former vice president date back to 2005, when she clashed with him over efforts to reform the nation's bankruptcy laws. Back then, Warren was a Harvard professor who came to testify on Capitol Hill in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which included Biden, then a senator from Delaware. Biden supported the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act that would make it harder to file for bankruptcy. Warren opposed the law - because she saw bankruptcy as a crucial protection for working families hit by financial devastation.

"Those families have to turn somewhere, and that means now, they turn as a last-ditch effort to the bankruptcy court," she told Biden.

Warren appeared to get the best of Biden in the debate.

"I got it," Biden said with a chuckle. "You're very good, professor."

During her presidential campaign, Warren offered a series of progressive plans, including a wealth tax on the richest Americans, Medicare For All, free public college and canceling student debt for tens of millions of Americans. She argued that a bold, progressive vision was the surest way to defeat President Trump, and warned against the kind of moderate vision offered by Biden, arguing that if Democrats try to play it safe, they will lose.

"We win when we have big enough ideas to meet the big problems in people’s lives and we get out there and fight for them," Warren said in January in New Hampshire.

But following disappointing results in the early voting states and Super Tuesday, including a third place finish in her home state,  Warren had no path forward, and suspended her presidential campaign. At that time, she did not endorse either Biden, or her fellow progressive, Sanders, saying she needed time to think.

“Among all the other candidates I competed with in the Democratic primary, there’s no one who I’ve agreed with 100% of the time over the years,” Warren says in the video released today. “But one thing I appreciate about Joe Biden is that he will always tell you where he stands,” Warren said.

As the nation confronts a deadly pandemic and the possible collapse of its economy, Warren says Biden can help the nation reunite and rebuild, and in the video, she praised the former Vice President for his work during the 2009 economic recovery.

"I've seen Joe Biden help a nation rebuild," Warren said in the video.

In a statement of his own, Biden responded to Warren’s endorsement on Wednesday, praising the Massachusetts senator for the passion and conviction that she brought to the presidential race.

“Her voice made the debate stage, the Democratic Party, and every candidate competing against her better and stronger,” Biden’s statement said. “I’ve been proud to work with her over the past few weeks to identify and adopt important proposals that will strengthen us as a people.”