Monday night, I stood wedged in a crowd of what I later learned was 20,000 people, all waiting to hear 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speak. This being my first ever political rally (and my first time in Washington Square Park!), the atmosphere was new and more than a little overwhelming. People passed out everything from petitions to flyers about anti-Trump protests to campaign-sponsored signs proudly proclaiming "I'M A WARREN DEMOCRAT" — the last of which is now hanging in my dorm room.
Like I said, I'd never been to a political event before, so I didn't really know what to expect. And I definitely didn't know that this wasn't a usual Warren rally. Not only did the senator go over the new anti-corruption plan she had debuted that morning, but she received an endorsement from the Working Families Party (WFP), which notably endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2016.
More and more op-eds have been popping up about the very real possibility of Warren winning the nomination and polls show her consistently tied with and/or ahead of Bernie — although both consistently trail former vice president Joe Biden — an observation supported by the WFP throwing their weight behind her.
In short, Elizabeth Warren is having a moment, and her Washington Square Park event is both an encapsulation of and a reason for that.
The first really interesting thing I noticed was the crowd: very large, very diverse, very female. Although the number of college students she brought out was impressive (the place was obviously crawling with NYU kids, but I bumped into several Fordham kids who had also embarked on the 30-minute subway ride from the Bronx to attend), there was everyone from grandmothers to families with small children.
The man standing next to my friends and I told us he had worked on Hillary Clinton's campaign. Next to him was a little boy who kept jumping up and down to try and see Warren. In front me stood two 30-somethings who wrote in small leather notebooks the entire time, clearly working for some media company that hadn't gotten access to the press section. It was the most interesting group of people I'd ever seen.
There was something else that I noticed both during and after the speech. Despite what you might have thought from the small but determined gang of Trump supporters yelling every three seconds, what Warren was saying was largely uncontroversial. Her anti-corruption plan featured some of the same proposals — prohibiting public officials from going into corporate lobbying and making meetings between politicians and lobbyists public record, for instance — that I've heard many conservatives support in the past.
As a friend of mine pointed out during the rally and countless pundits have noted since, Elizabeth Warren is as much of a populist as Donald Trump claims to be.
That being said, a large part of the enduring appeal of Elizabeth Warren is the fact that she's never been afraid to speak her mind. Unlike many politicians who campaign more with ideas and feelings, she has the ability to address an issue and explain in detail how she would solve them. It's part of what's endeared her to her supporters, helped her stand out in a crowded field, and given her ample material for merch.
Lastly and not quite as seriously, the SELFIE LINES. I didn't stay. I couldn't. I had a paper due the next morning to finish and the nearest Warren volunteer told us the line would be about three hours. Turns out that was an underestimation, as Sen. Warren ended up staying four hours after the conclusion of her speech to take pictures with each and every person who wanted one.
At this point, the selfie is an integral part of the Warren brand, akin to maybe a red hat in MAGA culture. On a practical level, it's just smart politics. People will post photos with presidential candidates, meaning all their friends will hear about said candidate and spark conversation.
On another level, however, the Warren selfie has become a sort of metaphor for her campaign platform. She wants to be seen as accessible to the common person and what's a better way to convey that than waiting in line with her supporters?