Sen Elizabeth Warren’s first presidential campaign in Minnesota

Sen Elizabeth Warren. Photo: AP

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) on Monday drew in the largest crowd of her presidential campaign tour yet, attracting thousands of energized supporters to her town hall at Macalester College.

Though the event was billed as a town hall, it more closely resembled a rally once Warren announced the audience Q&A portion of the event would be scrapped given the massive turnout. Her campaign estimated 12,000 people were in attendance. (Huffington post report)

A volunteer with the grassroots organizing group Minnesota for Warren told HuffPost that the event was scheduled to be held in the college’s field house but was moved outside given the large number of people who RSVP’d.

During the rally, Warren focused on three major actions she plans to take if elected president: Tackle corruption within the government, make structural changes in the economy and protect American democracy.

“If you want to get something done, you ought to have a plan for it,” she said, repeating a line that has become a mantra for her campaign. “Believe me, I plan to get something done.”

She drew raucous applause when she discussed her proposed wealth tax, which would impose a 2% tax on fortunes worth more than $50 million and a 3% tax on fortunes worth more than $1 billion.

The tax would affect about 75,000 families and raise $2.75 trillion over 10 years, according to University of California, Berkeley, economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, who worked with Warren on the proposal.

With money raised from the wealth tax, “we can provide universal child care for every baby in this country [and] raise the wages of every child care worker and preschool teacher in America,” Warren said. She added that the tax would result in a $50 billion investment in historically black colleges and universities and the cancelation of student loan debt for 95% of borrowers.

“This is our moment in American history,” she said. “This is our time to decide where this country goes. This is our chance to rescue our democracy. And how do we do it? We get organized. We build a grassroots movement. We persist. We dream big. We fight hard. We build the America of our best values.”

The town hall held at the private liberal arts college in St. Paul marked her first campaign event in Minnesota. She’s the fourth Democratic presidential candidate (outside of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota) to campaign in the North Star State.

“I hear her say, ‘I’ve got a plan for that,’ and she does,” said Nancy Docken, a 75-year-old St. Paul resident. “And she not only has a plan, but it’s thought out beyond just the first sketch of the idea ― there’s depth to it.”

Read more-