US News

Warren in ‘regular contact’ with Biden as VP search heats up

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been in “regular contact” with presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, according to a report, increasing her outreach to his longtime Senate allies as she makes her case to be his running mate.

Warren (D-Mass.) has been sending the message to Biden and those closest to him that she’s eager to join the team, according to The Hill.

The former 2020 hopeful, despite her usual condemnation of big money in politics, plans to hold a big online fundraiser for the former vice president next month. Warren will be reaching out to the progressive state’s wealthiest donors during the event to raise money for the party’s nominee.

While Warren and Biden, a staunch moderate, sparred regularly on the campaign trail, the Massachusetts senator has softened on the ex-VP in the months since.

After withdrawing from the race following her lackluster Super Tuesday performance, Warren noted the Biden campaign’s decision to adopt her bankruptcy plan, which would serve as a major effort toward student debt reform, according to CNN.

The policy shift meant a lot to the senator, especially because the two had sparred over the issue for decades.

The network reported that while the pair don’t necessarily “get along like they are friends,” both believe the other is in politics “for the right reasons.”

Going with Warren could also come with financial perks, as the senator could call on her array of grassroots, small-dollar supporters to contribute to the general election fight she was joining.

On a more personal level, the former 2020 rivals have grown closer in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

After Warren lost her brother to the virus, which has killed over 100,000 people in the US, she received a call from the former VP.

She described their conversation in an interview with The Atlantic as “one person who’d lost loved ones trying to console another person who just lost her beloved brother.”

Warren said their phone calls since then have covered “everything from coronavirus testing to unemployment insurance,” and told the magazine that she feels that Biden now sees economic policy the way she does.

Beyond that, she said, “We need a president with empathy, a president who understands that people in our families are sick and dying, a president who cares about the loss of every single person in this country. That’s what Donald Trump can’t manage. And that’s what Joe Biden feels in his bones.”

As their relationship has grown closer on a professional level behind closed doors, Warren hasn’t been entirely coy about her willingness to be the vice presidential candidate.

Speaking to MSNBC in mid-April, just hours after she endorsed Biden, Warren said she would say yes if asked to be his running mate.

Also being considered for the job are Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada as well as Rep. Val Demings of Florida, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

A spokesperson for Warren could not immediately be reached by The Post for comment.

With Post wires