'Incredibly Important Moment': Warren Endorses Congressional Progressive Primary Challengers Jessica Cisneros and Marie Newman

In what Justice Democrats celebrated as “an incredibly important moment,” 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday endorsed Jessica Cisneros and Marie Newman—a pair of progressive primary challengers to conservative incumbent Democrats in Congress.

Cisneros, who is challenging Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and Marie Newman, who is challenging Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), are both backed by Justice Democrats, which supported first-term Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in 2018, when she ousted a longtime congressman and leader in the Democratic Party, Joe Crowley.

“We are so proud that Jessica Cisneros and Marie Newman are being endorsed by Senator Warren, a strong fighter for working families,” Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, said in a statement Monday. 

Rojas contrasted the Massachusetts Democrat’s fresh endorsements with the positions of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the party’s official campaign arm for the House, which has tried to stifle progressive challengers trying to unseat more right-wing incumbents.

“At a time when the DCCC is rallying around pro-NRA and anti-choice Democrats like Cuellar and Lipinski,” Rojas said, “it’s a breath of fresh air to have candidates for president who remember what the Democratic Party should stand for.”

In her endorsements Monday, Warren praised the candidates’ progressive positions. Of 26-year old Cisneros, the senator and presidential hopeful said: