An Open Letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Run Warren Run!

Co-authored by Ilya Sheyman

Run Warren Run!

That's the rallying cry MoveOn adopted this week as we launched a major, million-dollar campaign focused on convincing Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for president. Our members voted overwhelmingly -- 81.3 percent of votes cast -- to support this campaign, and we're joining the millions of Americans across the country who are energized, inspired, and awed by Senator Warren, one of our country's fiercest advocates for working families and the middle class.

So, Senator Warren, we're making it clear: If you run for president, we'll be right there with you, helping forge a path from the Iowa Caucuses all the way to the White House. We've got your back.

That's because you've had our backs. You've stood up for us -- America's students, mothers, retirees, teachers, minimum-wage workers -- instead of for the big banks and corporations. You've inspired us by your tireless, boundless advocacy for progressive causes, working each day to make America the best-possible place to live, work, and raise a family.

We're living in an America with a political and economic system that is great for big corporations, but it's failing America's middle-class and working families. For far too long, everyday Americans have been "chipped, squeezed, and hammered"--your words--while the wealthy folks sitting atop the payroll at big banks and corporations have benefited. That's not the America we want to live in, and Senator Warren, you've been fighting tooth-and-nail to fix it every day.

Senator Warren, we're inspired by your personal story. You haven't just studied the struggles of America's working families--you've lived them. Being born and raised in Oklahoma to a family, as you often say, "on the ragged edge of the middle class." You've talked about how your mother saved the family house with a minimum-wage job after your father suffered a heart attack. Millions of Americans are inspired by your story--how you were married by 19, put yourself through public university and law school while raising two young children, and saw each of your three brothers serve in the military.

Senator Warren, you know what it's like to work hard and struggle to get by--you've said that's what motivated you to stand up to corporate interests and fight for the rest of us each day.

There's too much at stake to have anything other than our best candidates taking part in the debate; everyone is better off with a contested primary. We need powerful, tireless champions like you, Senator Warren, in the race to push for real solutions to income inequality and the influence of money in politics.

Here's where our Run Warren Run campaign comes in. In just a few days, we'll host an Iowa launch event in Des Moines, where the road to the White House begins. We'll go all in. Hire staff. Open offices. Run ads in major media outlets. Mobilize an army of volunteers. Reach as many voters as we can.

Senator Warren, we're ready to show you that you have the support needed to enter--and win--this presidential race.

Now, as you know Senator, this isn't the first time MoveOn has supported you. A few years ago, before we knew you as the senator from Massachusetts, MoveOn bundled more than $1 million in small-dollar donations for your campaign and turned out more than 1,000 volunteers for the campaign. Pundits said it was a long shot for a Harvard professor to unseat the incumbent senator, Scott Brown. But we know how that ends: Today, you're one of the most prominent Democrats in the Senate and willing to work across the aisle to make progress.

Senator Warren, the story of your first election isn't so different from today's presidential discussions. Some pundits still say you can't take on other candidates and win. Presidential races aren't easy, they can be bitter and tiring. But we stood with you once, and we're ready to do it again.

We're ready to fight with you, Senator Warren. Please, run for President.

Anna Galland and Ilya Sheyman are the executive directors of MoveOn.org Civic Action and MoveOn.org Political Action, respectively.