Fresh off of her recent surge in popularity from last Wednesday night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Sen. Elizabeth Warren appeared in alignment with her energetic and fierce reputation last Sunday in Denver. The Senator from Massachusetts and presidential hopeful visited the Mile High City on Feb. 23 at the Fillmore Auditorium. Speaking to a crowd of 3,800—with at least 300 overflow Denverites waiting outside to get in the venue—Warren spent her second visit to Colorado since announcing her campaign discussing policy, outlining her plan for the presidency and rallying enthusiastic voters for the upcoming Super Tuesday on March 3. 

Though the venue is used to hosting famous touring musical acts, the Fillmore donned red, white and blue bunting along the balconies and sold “Colorado for Warren” signs instead of music merchandise for the afternoon event. Famous songs like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Move on Up” and “Love on Top” reverberated throughout the theater before Warren addressed the auditorium. 

State Sen. Kerry Donovan, the first Colorado lawmaker to endorse Warren for the presidency, kicked off the event. Donovan, who represents seven mountain counties in Colorado and works primarily as a rancher, cited Warren’s 2019 speech in which she defended garment district workers as one of the main reasons she supported the Warren campaign from the start. 

“I saw this woman using the platform of running for the president of the United States to lift up the people whose shoulders most of us actually stand on,” stated Donovan. “We stand on the shoulders of workers and immigrants. We don’t stand on the shoulders of millionaires, that’s not how most of us got here. I saw this woman lifting up what I believe is true America…so that’s why I’m in this room.”

State Sen. Julie Gonzales, representative of District 34, also provided supportive and energized remarks before introducing Warren. 

“She has been doing the work since before she was elected to office…she did that work before she had the title,” stated the Gonzales. 

Hand-in-hand with the theme of hard work, Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit “9 to 5” welcomed Warren onto the stage, accompanied by roars of chants and applause from the audience. 

“I am so glad to see you, Denver,” stated Warren when she first spoke. “It feels like to me that Denver is ready for some big structural change.” 

Warren capitalized on her success in the most recent Democratic debate, voicing her thanks for the surge in campaign donations she has received from her campaign website, and continued to slam fellow Democratic candidate, Mike Bloomberg. 

“He is making the argument that because he is the richest guy out there, that makes him the safest to beat Trump,” said Warren of the former New York City mayor. “Now you may have seen this movie before—a billionaire who hides his taxes, a billionaire who has a history of harassment and discrimination against women, and a billionaire who embraces racist policies…Understand this—Michael Bloomberg is not the safest nominee for the Democrats, he is the riskiest nominee for the Democrats… we are not trading one arrogant billionaire for another.” 

The senator delved into her life story, a life largely not centered in politics. In the characteristic way that political rallies straddle the line between motivational life talk and policy talk, Warren related the way her middle-class Oklahoma family pulled themselves out of countless hardships, motivated by an overarching value: “No matter how hard it looks, no matter how scared you are, you get in the fight and take care of the people you love.” 

Detailing her life path, Warren outlined her journey from self-paid community college student to public school teacher to law school professor to politician. Her extremely successful career as a Harvard law professor dovetailed into her work in starting the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Signed into law in 2010 by President Obama, the act was a response to the 2008 financial recession and “put regulations on the financial industry and created programs to stop mortgage companies and lenders from taking advantage of consumers.” Warren cited her ground-up work in this movement as one of the reasons she became a “fighter” and became more involved in politics. 

Though the scope of her policies span a wide range of topics, Warren restated the issues of health care, immigration, climate change, the economy and gun violence the most. 

“We need a fighter because we’ve got a lot that we need to get done,” said Warren. “We need a wealth tax in America…It’s time for a green new deal and a blue new deal. And it’s time to cut gun violence in this country…it’s time for real immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship.” 

Warren also addressed the need to get rid of the filibuster in the U.S. lawmaking process, distinguishing herself from fellow Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders. In addition, the Senator stressed the need to regain Democratic control of the Senate, electing a new president before a new Supreme Court vacancy, making Roe v. Wade “the law of the land” and implementing a “2 cent” wealth tax on the wealthiest one percent of the U.S. 

Warren’s campaign website describes this wealth tax policy, stating, “A family with a net worth of more than $50 million—roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households—would pay a two percent (or 2 cents) tax on every dollar of their net worth above $50 million and a six percent (or 6 cents) tax for every dollar above $1 billion.” 

The Democratic hopeful also outlined her ideas on her controversial “Medicare for all” plan. She addressed an audience question asking how that would work, stating that, if elected, she would defend the Affordable Care Act, increase taxes on the top one percent of Americans, get IRS agents to “go after the tax cheats” and ask companies like Amazon who currently do not pay taxes to pay taxes. 

Warren also distinguished herself from other Democratic opponents, stating that she is “not a Democratic socialist,” and that she believes in a market economy. 

“I’m a market economy fan, but I believe in a market economy that we make work for everyone in this country,” said Warren. 

Among other topics, Warren also discussed her plan to use a march-in order on the first day of office to reduce the prices of prescription drugs like epi-pens, insulin, HIV and AIDS medications. She also loosely mentioned her plans to cancel student loan debts, grant unions in America more agency, make free childcare available for every baby in America and cancel the historically controversial redlining policy through her housing plan.  

“I want to go to Washington not just to talk,” voiced Warren. “I want to go to Washington to make big structural change.” 

Warren’s Denver supporters are set to show up for their candidate on Super Tuesday. If you are not registered to vote in Colorado for the primaries, you can still register if you vote in person on March 3.