Elizabeth Warren Urged Not To Endorse Bernie Sanders, He’s ‘Done Next To Nothing For Women,’ NOW Leader Says
As Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren considers making a possible presidential endorsement, after she withdrew from the race on Thursday, the president of the United States’ largest women’s rights organization has offered her advice on which candidate she should not endorse — Bernie Sanders.
Toni Van Pelt, president of the National Organization for Women, said that Sanders had “really, as far as we know, done next to nothing for women and for our issues,” as quoted by Newsweek on Friday. Van Pelt added that Sanders “doesn’t have a record” in Congress when it comes to advancing women’s rights legislation.
Current front-runner Joe Biden, the former vice president, was a principal author of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act while he was a Democratic senator from Delaware. The VAWA is widely credited with helping to bring about a significant decline in domestic violence incidents against women since its passage. According to Van Pelt, “we wouldn’t have the Violence Against Women Act if it wasn’t for Biden’s leadership.”
According to Obama administration statistics posted by ObamaWhiteHouse.gov, incidents of intimate partner domestic violence fell 67 percent from 1993 to 2010.
The self-described democratic socialist candidate has gained few high-profile endorsements from prominent Democrats. However, Warren’s backing would be seen as a huge boost to the flagging Sanders campaign, which after taking losses in 10 of 14 Super Tuesday primary states on March 3 finds itself well behind Biden in polls looking toward upcoming states.
Warren herself has been critical of Sanders over the behavior of his supporters, whom she says have attacked women online.
In Elizabeth Warren’s first sit-down interview since dropping out of the presidential race, she talks about how Bernie supporters have been particularly vicious. pic.twitter.com/eVoAkOFGzv
— Andy Ngô ???? (@MrAndyNgo) March 6, 2020
“They actually published the phone numbers and home addresses of two women” in Nevada, Warren told interviewer Rachel Maddow, as quoted by USA Today. She added that the Sanders fans’ treatment of the women “really put them in fear.”
“There’s a real problem with this online bullying and sort of online nastiness,” Warren told Maddow, who noted that Sanders supporters have frequently attacked the Massachusetts senator online as a “snake” and a “traitor.”
Warren also condemned attacks by Sanders supporters on “women of color” and “immigrant women.”
Sanders in his own interview with Maddow on Wednesday also condemned “ugly, personal attacks” against Warren and her campaign by his supporters. He also hinted that he would name Warren to a post in a Sanders administration, if he were to win the presidency.
“I have a lot of respect for Senator Warren and would love to sit down and talk to her about what kind of role she can play,” Sanders said in the interview.
