WASHINGTON — Consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren plans to officially become a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts today, giving Democrats a candidate with national stature in the rare contest where they are on offense in 2012.
Warren oversaw the launch of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before leaving the Obama administration this summer. She formed an exploratory committee for the race shortly after.
“The pressures on middle-class families are worse than ever, but it is the big corporations that get their way in Washington. I want to change that,” Warren said in a statement.
Democrats have been eager to field a top- flight challenger to Republican Sen. Scott Brown, whose 2010 special-election victory for the seat once held by Ted Kennedy shocked the political world.
Warren comes into the race with the strong support of national progressives. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised $130,000 through its “Draft Warren” effort. But as a first-time campaigner, she will have much to prove in a race against Brown, who has quickly become the Bay State’s most popular politician, according to various polls.
Tribune Co. Washington Bureau
