Draft Warren groups suspending operations

Run Warren Run, an organized, long-shot effort to encourage Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to run for president, will close its doors next week as their hero continues to unequivocally decline those calls.

{mosads}The campaign by Democracy for America and MoveOn.org Political Action will suspend operations Monday after delivering a petition to Warren with 365,000 signatures asking her to run. But the gesture isn’t likely to change the Massachusetts Democrat’s mind, as she’s been resolute in statements rejecting a possible bid.

As many progressive Democrats worried about Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s liberal chops, they coalesced around Warren as their ideal choice. In its six months, Run Warren Run launched field offices in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and held hundreds of rallies to support its effort.

But while the calls never publicly moved the needle toward a Warren presidential campaign, the groups point to their efforts as a main reason Clinton burst out of the gate taking progressive stances on issues like income inequality and campaign finance reform.

“Even without her in the race, Elizabeth Warren and the Run Warren Run campaign she inspired have already transformed the 2016 presidential election by focusing every single Democratic candidate on combatting our country’s income inequality crisis,” Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, said in a statement.

“We still think there’s plenty of time for Sen. Warren to change her mind, but now that we’ve shown that she has the support she would need to mount a winning campaign, we’re excited to take the grassroots juggernaut we’ve built with our members and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Warren in the battles ahead.”

For her part, the Massachusetts senator has seemed more comfortable battling to shape the country’s direction in the Senate rather than on the stump. She emerged as President Obama’s top opponent on fast-track trade legislation, sparring with him on the deal through the media.

Ilya Sheyman, the executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said in a statement that the group will reposition its efforts to work with Warren on shared issues, including the trade deal.

“The Run Warren Run campaign has changed the conversation by showing that Americans are hungry for Elizabeth Warren’s agenda — an agenda that rejects the rigged status quo in Washington and puts working and middle-class Americans over corporate interests,” he said in a statement.

“Now it’s time to suspend our active draft efforts and pivot to standing alongside Sen. Warren on the big fights ahead, starting with stopping Fast Track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”

— This report was updated at 7:28 a.m.