As many Williams students get set to cast their ballots in this high-stakes presidential primary, I want to make my case for why you should vote for Elizabeth Warren. We are at a pivotal moment in American history, one in which we have seen our institutions crumble and demagogues rise. We are in a moment when we must act on climate if our generation is to have a chance at a livable future. Elizabeth Warren is the best candidate to take on this fight and actually be effective at accomplishing her bold, progressive agenda. 

Elizabeth Warren’s vision for America is one that I want to live in. I want to live in a country that leads the world out of climate catastrophe, a country where families aren’t going broke paying for insulin, a country that is hopeful again. But the biggest reason I support Elizabeth Warren is because she is the only candidate in this race who has a plan to get things done. Her whole life, Elizabeth has fought for working families. She learned how to struggle and fight as a single mother. She went back to school and studied bankruptcy law because she saw middle-class families like her own being squeezed and wanted to understand why. As a private citizen, Elizabeth started a new federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has taken on the big banks and won back over $12 billion for consumers who were cheated by the banks. 

Elizabeth Warren is in this race not to be a savior, but to be a student, learning and fighting alongside normal people to create real change in this country. She is someone who spends her time on the campaign trail listening to and taking direct questions from voters, informing her own plans with the real-life stories she hears every day. And then she turns around and gets to work. Just last year, Senator Warren was able to get her legislation signed into law by Donald Trump. Read that again: Elizabeth Warren was able to get legislation through Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to reduce the cost of hearing aids because she knows how to get things done. Elizabeth understands how to use the levers of power in Washington and make real progress. 

We needed to have acted on climate yesterday. The reason we haven’t is simple: corruption. There is too much money and lobbying in Washington, and Elizabeth Warren is the candidate with the strongest anti-corruption plan. She has made rooting out corruption the focus of her campaign, and rightfully so. Until we attack money in politics, it will be impossible to pass climate legislation. Furthermore, Senator Warren supports repealing the Senate filibuster, which makes it impossible for us to pass climate legislation without 60 Democratic votes in the Senate, something that is not going to happen anytime soon. I know that people are itching for a candidate who can say the right things or pick the right fights. What makes Elizabeth special is that she knows how to fight for actual change. Elizabeth Warren has a plan to make big, structural change a reality. 

So I encourage you to vote for the candidate who has a proven record of actually getting progressive priorities accomplished. The candidate who took on the big banks and beat them. The candidate who took on a well-funded, incumbent Republican and beat him. 

Elizabeth Warren is the candidate who can build a unified Democratic coalition to beat Donald Trump in November. Her message of fighting corruption has broad appeal tvo voters regardless of ideology, and her wealth tax is popular with all voters, including Republicans. There is no better contrast to Donald Trump, the most corrupt president in American history, than Elizabeth Warren, a woman with a plan to root out Washington corruption. 

Elizabeth Warren has run a campaign rooted in policy, not platitudes or empty promises. She has demonstrated an understanding of what is fundamentally broken in this country and how to fix it. When it comes time for you to cast your ballot, I implore you to vote for a future that is within reach, but that requires a woman who is ready to dig deep and fight for that future. Elizabeth Warren is that woman. 

Rwick Sarkar ’23 is from Winchester, Mass.