Sen. Elizabeth Warren held a town hall Sunday at her Oklahoma City alma mater, Northwest Classen High School, drawing more than 2,000 people to the gym where she used to watch basketball and wrestling.
After being introduced by her nephew, Mark Herring, and walking out to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," Warren opened her town hall by talking about the time her dad was home recovering from a heart attack and her brothers were enlisted. Warren’s mom, then 50 years old, walked to the local Sears to get a minimum-wage job so they wouldn’t lose their house.
"Today, a minimum-wage job in America will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty. That is wrong, and that is why I am in this fight," Warren said.
Warren spent a good chunk of the event telling supporters about her plan to invest heavily in public education through a two-cent tax on households with a net worth above $50 million. Warren said if someone built their fortune in America, it wasn’t entirely on their own.
"I guarantee, you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate. You built it at least in part getting your goods to market on roads and bridges all of us helped pay to build. You built it at least in part protected by police and firefighters all of us help pay the salaries for," Warren said.
Asked during a question-and-answer portion of the event how she’d support native issues if elected, Warren said she’s working on policies based on a list of broken treaty obligations and will have a cabinet-level post for tribes to be represented throughout U.S. government.
"We have failed so many times to show respect. This is an opportunity for us as a country to reset our relationship with the tribal nations," Warren said.
Warren also met privately with tribal leaders, discussing topics like health care and education.
The Massachusetts senator is currently third in national polling averages behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
