The 2020 Democratic primary is essentially a three-way race between centrist frontrunner Joe Biden and socialism-inclined challengers Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). Warren has sought to appropriate certain aspects of Bernie's platform while subtly positioning herself as the "safer" socialist alternative to Biden. It was only a matter of time before the Sanders campaign started lashing out.
Right on schedule, Sanders's national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray is calling out Warren for refusing to back Bernie's adorably socialist "housing for all" plan, which calls for $2.5 trillion in new spending and a nationwide rent control initiative. Warren does not think a nationwide rent control policy would work given the disparities among state economies, though such thinking has not stopped Warren from endorsing a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour.
Warren is not on board with national rent control, which Sanders has proposed.
"Writing a rent control plan in Washington may work for Chicago, but it's not going to work for Iowa City, or it may not work for Dallas," she said today at #ThePeoplesForum in Iowa.
— Thomas Kaplan (@thomaskaplan) September 21, 2019
Gray used Warren's own debate zinger to criticize the former Harvard professor for failing to support national rent control.
'I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk abt what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for." - @ewarren
Bernie says yes to natl rent control bc we can, we should, & we must.
— Briahna "Curly Fries" Gray (@briebriejoy) September 23, 2019
Gray also attacked Warren over her record on union rights, including her campaign's failure to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement since recognizing her staff's union in June. For his part, Sanders has also struggled to meet the demands of his own unionized campaign staff.
Under Bernie’s workplace democracy act, Warren’s campaign would be subject to compulsory mediation for failure to reach a collective bargaining agreement.
There is only one campaign that has put its money where its mouth is WRT organized labor. #Bernie2020 https://t.co/6QkC8XT29M
— Briahna "Curly Fries" Gray (@briebriejoy) September 23, 2019
The problem for Sanders and Warren remains: As long as both continue to pursue the nomination, they are likely to split the anti-Biden vote, which will only help the former vice president in the early primary states. Decisive victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and the like could go a long way to cement Biden's somewhat tenuous status as the most "electable" candidate and "inevitable" nominee.