Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton pats a woman on the shoulder after visiting an eatery in Washington. (Photo: AFP)
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton pats a woman on the shoulder after visiting an eatery in Washington. (Photo: AFP)
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Friday met US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice, to try to build party unity for her election campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
The two held talks at Ms Clinton’s Washington home a day after Ms Warren endorsed Ms Clinton’s White House bid, adding support from the Democrats’ liberal wing as Ms Clinton seeks to move on from her protracted primary battle with Bernie Sanders.
Ms Warren left the meeting smiling after roughly an hour and did not speak to reporters outside. A source familiar with the meeting said the pair discussed how best to work together to put forward a progressive agenda and stop Mr Trump.
Ms Clinton, the former secretary of state, earlier this week secured the delegates needed to win the party nomination for the November 8 presidential election. Party leaders are hoping Mr Sanders will drop his presidential run before the party convention in Philadelphia in July.
Mr Sanders said on Thursday he would remain in the race through the final nominating contest in Washington D.C., next week but would work with Ms Clinton to defeat Mr Trump.
The Warren meeting on Friday fuelled speculation that the Senator from Massachusetts might be under consideration as Ms Clinton’s running-mate. Asked in an MSNBC interview on Thursday whether she had discussed with Ms Clinton the prospect of being vice-president, Ms Warren said she had not, nor had she been vetted.
Ms Warren has considered the idea of serving as Ms Clinton’s running-mate but sees obstacles to that choice, several people familiar with Ms Warren’s thinking said.
Having support from Ms Warren would boost Ms Clinton’s ability to court highly motivated Sanders supporters who have been fired up against Ms Clinton during the unexpectedly long primary battle. Ms Warren and Mr Sanders share views on issues such as reining in Wall Street excesses and fighting income inequality.
President Barack Obama and vice-president Joe Biden also announced their support of Ms Clinton on Thursday, handing her a trio of endorsements expected to boost her standing heading into the general election campaign.
Ms Clinton’s first public appearance after acknowledging her role as the presumptive Democratic nominee was a speech on Friday to Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the nonpartisan arm of the women’s health group. She used the speech to deliver a critique of Trump’s statement that he would be “great” for women if elected to the White House.
