An evaluation of the midterm elections and the direction of the Democratic Party moving forward will be the topics of this week's Democracy Alliance meeting, but appearances by Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren signal the group is looking toward 2016 as well.
While the group of liberal and progressive donors will hold their four-day meeting under the shadow of the Democrats dismal electoral performance, they remain committed to moving the party leftward on the environment and economic issues, reports
The Washington Post.
"I feel people are disappointed," Alliance president Gara LaMarche told The Post. "I don’t think they felt their money was wasted. I think they feel you make the good fight, you do what you can, and sometimes you lose."
Biden will address the closing ceremonies on Friday, while Warren speak on issues related to economic injustice.
It has not gone unnoticed that Hillary Clinton was not invited to attend, but LaMarche denied her absence was reflective of any preference for 2016.
"As Secretary Clinton herself said recently, Senator Warren is a leading economic voice in the party. We want to have a strong emphasis on the economy and we asked her to kick off that section," he told The Post.
LaMarche was referring to Clinton's effusive praise of Warren during a campaign event for Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley in October.
Warren was described by Clinton as "the passionate champion for working people and middle class families," according to
CNN.
Warren, who is emerging as one of the Democratic Party's top voices on economic issues, will speak during a session called "An Economy That Works for All — A Progressive Plan and the Path to Making It Happen," according to an invitation obtained by
Politico.
Last year at the donors' annual winter meeting, there was buzz among the attendees about a potential Warren presidential run. But her former national finance chairman, Paul Egerman, told supporters that she had no intention of challenging Clinton,
BuzzFeed reported.
Egerman, a retired software entrepreneur, now serves as
Democracy Alliance's treasurer, according to its website.
Other key members of the group's leadership also come from the left wing of the Democratic Party, including Mary Kay Henry, international president of the Service Employees International Union; James Gollin, an environmentalist and president of the board of Rainforest Action Network; and John Stocks, executive director of the National Education Association.
Politico also reports that the officials with the super PAC Ready for Warren have plans to meet with conference attendees, while Deborah Sagner and Guy Saperstein, two former Democracy Alliance members, have been early contributors to the Warren PAC.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.