Reid, left push for liberal 2016 candidate

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has joined a progressive group’s call for Hillary Clinton or any other Democratic White House candidate to run from the left in 2016.

The “Ready for Boldness” campaign launched by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is a play off the “Ready for Hillary” super PAC backing a Clinton White House run. The former New York senator is widely expected to launch her bid this month. 

{mosads}The PCCC has regularly encouraged Democrats to tout liberal policies, using Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a model. Warren herself has dismissed a number of calls to run for president.

The new push by the PCCC is the group’s latest effort to wield influence in the upcoming presidential race and convince those who decide to run to echo those policy platforms.  

Reid is one of 5,000 political leaders who are a part of the effort.

“ReadyForBoldness.com is a big tent with 5,000 political leaders who support Hillary Clinton, other potential candidates, or nobody — all saying together that the best way for Democrats to win in 2016 is by campaigning on big, bold, economic-populist ideas that are popular with voters,” Adam Green, the co-founder of the PCCC, said in a statement.

The PCCC has highlighted issues such as expanding Social Security, holding Wall Street accountable, enacting campaign finance reform, raising wages, and making college more affordable.

The “Ready for Boldness” initiative was launched in late March with 200 Democratic leaders from Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s now expanded to include Reid, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D Minn.). 

“Being bold is the only way I’ve ever known how to win,” Reid said in a statement released by the PCCC.

The group of signers includes 14 other current members of Congress, including Hank Johnson (Ga.), Dave Loebsack (Iowa), and Jim McDermott (Wash.) Seven other former lawmakers joined the call as well.