Democratic 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren took aim at her newest rival over the weekend, slamming former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential bid as an attempt to “buy” the election.
“Elections should not be for sale. Not to billionaires. Not to corporate executives. We need to build a grassroots movement,” the Massachusetts senator said Saturday at a New Hampshire town hall.
“We have a country that works great for billionaires. Works great for corporate executives,” Warren said. “But it’s not working for the rest of America. And if the only way that Democrats can pick a nominee is to go to the billionaires and corporate executives, then we’re going to have a country that keeps working better and better for those at the top.”
Bloomberg made his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination official on Thursday and kicked off his campaign Sunday with a $37-million ad buy.
“He could’ve just been the middle-class kid who made good, but Mike Bloomberg became the guy who did good,” the first television ad of the billionaire businessman’s campaign says, adding a promise that Bloomberg will tax the wealthy and make sure those in the middle class get their fair share.
Bloomberg battled low poll numbers for most of November after his late campaign announcement. Meanwhile, critics have raised concerns about the former mayor’s alleged demeaning comments towards women and others, saying they raise concerns about Bloomberg’s viability as a representative of the Democratic Party.
“I understand rich people are going to have more shoes than the rest of us,” Warren told the town hall crowd. “They’re going to have more cars than the rest of us. They’re going to have more houses. But they don’t get a bigger share of democracy. Especially in a Democratic primary. We need to be doing the face-to-face work that lifts every voice.”
“Telling billionaires they can come and buy elections, that does not make democracy work,” the senator said.
Warren is currently polling at 18 percent behind former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, according to Real Clear Politics average of polls. Bloomberg polls at 2 percent.