Iowans will be the first Americans in the nation to get to decide which Democratic presidential candidate they want to receive the party’s nomination and face the incumbent, President Donald Trump, in the general election in November. The Iowa caucuses will be held on February 3.
“The outstanding caliber of Democratic candidates makes it difficult to choose just one,” the editorial board wrote—perhaps a reference to The New York Times’s editorial board’s double-endorsement of Warren and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. “But ultimately Iowa caucusgoers need to do that.”
The Register’s editorial board cited Warren’s extensive background in politics, her concern for the working class, and ability “to translate ideas into signed laws and effective regulations” as reasons for the endorsement.
“At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs,” the board concluded.
The Twitter account of Iowa Starting Line, which focuses on news related to the Iowa caucuses, shared a short video that showed Warren’s reaction when she was told that she had received the “coveted” endorsement from The Des Moines Register.
Warren publicly thanked the Register for its endorsement in a tweet published Saturday evening.
“Iowans are ready to make big, structural change—and I’m going to fight my heart out for everyone in Iowa and across the country,” she wrote.
Other politicians and commentators, who both disagree with and support Warren, offered their opinions, as well.
Julián Castro, the former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama, and an erstwhile presidential candidate until he dropped out of the race on January 2 and endorsed Warren, posted his reaction on social media.
“Democrats need a candidate who can unite our party to beat Trump and create the big change needed to improve the lives of hardworking families,” he wrote in a tweet Saturday evening. “@DMRegisterknows: @ewarren is that candidate.”
Scott Wiener, a California state senator, wrote that he “couldn’t agree more” with the Register’s endorsement of Warren, whom he called “the next President of the United States.”
“Elizabeth Warren has the vision, the tenacity, & the experience to heal our nation & address the most vexing challenges we confront,” Wiener wrote.
Journalist Sahil Kapur shared the Register’s endorsement of Warren and provided a list of previous presidential candidates the paper has endorsed. Kapur wrote that of all the candidates the Register endorsed since 1988, only one—Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election—went on to win Iowa in the caucuses and secure the party’s nomination.
Jeff Jarvis, a journalist, wrote that he supported the Register’s endorsement and that he would vote for Warren “over Biden, Bernie, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, Bennet … all the B-boys, et al.”
“I disagree with her on tech and other policy,” Jarvis wrote. “But I believe she is the most qualified candidate now.”
Charlie Kirk, a Republican, conservative activist who co-founded the non-profit Turning Point USA, called into question the endorsement’s claim that Warren would “treat truth as something that matters.” He called her a “fake Native-American” who “lied about getting fired for being pregnant” and “lied about sending her kids to private school.”
Peter Daou, a political strategist and author, congratulated the Warren campaign for the endorsement and told supporters that they were always welcome in the “#NotMeUs movement,” which refers to the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
