EUGENE, Ore. — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, lent her star power to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley’s re-election bid for a second time Monday.
Warren told an enthusiastic crowd that Merkley has been a strong partner in her populist fight against big banks and powerful interests, which she says have “rigged” the financial and political system in their favor.
“I know that Jeff Merkley gets up every day to fight for working families, and now it’s our chance to fight for Jeff Merkley,” Warren told a crowd of students and activists at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
The price for admission was $30 or a commitment to volunteer for three hours. Warren held a separate fundraiser earlier in the day.
Merkley, seeking a second term, is the front-runner against Republican Monica Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon who has struggled to recover from missteps in her campaign.
In a statement, Wehby’s campaign said Warren’s visit to help Merkley “signals a desire to recruit fellow ideologues to continue a partisan agenda that has devastated job creation and imploded our economy.”
Warren has aggressively campaigned for Democrats around the country, trying to help her party maintain its control of the Senate despite a playing field that heavily favors Republicans.
Senate control up for grabs
The GOP needs to pick up six seats to gain control of the Senate, and many of this year’s races are being waged in states that voted against President Barack Obama two years ago.
Warren said she got a chilly reception in Washington when she began shopping her proposal to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate financial institutions, but Merkley backed her up.
“He didn’t care that it meant taking on the big banks,” Warren said. “He did care who you had to take on. It was a fight for working families.”
Warren also campaigned and raised money for Merkley in Portland in May.
Ballots go out in two weeks and are due by Nov. 4.
Warren’s ability to energize Democratic activists and raise money is nearly unmatched on the left.
“I’m all for a fighting chance for the American people,” said Kevin Miller of Eugene, a retired teacher. “She is the only one who speaks my language.”
Merkley, a frequent critic of the U.S. Supreme Court’s campaign finance decisions, praised the court’s decision earlier Monday to reject appeals from five states seeking to defend their gay marriage bans.
“Today, I’ll do something that’s very rare: give a double thumbs up to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Merkley said.
