Sen. Elizabeth Warren took sides in two competitive Senate primaries on Thursday, part of a broadening play to reshape her party in a handful of important races — and push back on party leaders in one of the most critical battleground campaigns of 2026.
The Massachusetts senator on Thursday backed state Sen. Zach Wahls in the Iowa Senate race and Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran, in Maine. On Wednesday, she endorsed state Sen. Malloy McMorrow in the hotly contested Democratic Senate primary in Michigan.
Warren has also put her stamp on other competitive Senate primaries, giving endorsements to Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who won the Democratic nomination in her state on Tuesday.
“The best way to make big, structural changes to lower cost and root out corruption in Washington is to elect more fighters to the U.S. Senate,” Warren said in a statement to NBC News. “These candidates are inspiring people with authentic, grassroots-powered campaigns and they are leaders ready to fight on behalf of working families getting squeezed by a rigged system.”
Warren’s preferred candidates typically support populist policies, often criticizing billionaires and corporations, and they reject contributions from corporate PACs. Warren has also described each one as a “fighter” when she announced her endorsements.
Her endorsement of Platner does put Warren at odds with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party’s Senate campaign arm, which are backing Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins. The race is a must-win for Democrats hoping to flip the Senate, which would take a net gain of four seats this November.
Warren sharply criticized the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee earlier this year for failing, in her view, to back candidates who support systemic economic changes. DSCC chair Kirsten Gillibrand dismissed those criticisms, saying she is “focused on winning and finding the best, most formidable candidate,” adding that the committee is also “looking for fighters.”
The endorsement from Warren also comes at a crucial important moment for Platner, after Mills launched her first attacks against him this week. Mills released a TV ad that highlights 2013 social media posts in which Platner downplayed sexual assault. Platner released a response ad saying those comments “are words and statements I abhor from a time in my life when I was struggling deeply after returning from war” and “not who I am.”
“Look, he has apologized for that and he’s out there talking to the people of Maine every single day,” Warren told HuffPost on Thursday.
Having Warren’s backing could be a helpful boost among progressive female voters as Platner tries to fend off those attacks, said one Democratic strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly about primary dynamics.
“It’s a progressive senator from a nearby state, a woman who has led on all of these really important issues,” the strategist said. “This is the exact endorsement you’d want right now if you’re their campaign.”
Aside from the Maine race, the DSCC has not publicly backed a candidate in other competitive primaries in key Senate battlegrounds. But the committee’s critics say party leaders have quietly signaled their preferences. The New York Times reported that a group of senators, including Warren, have formed a so-called “Fight Club” to play in primaries and counter possible influence from the DSCC and party leadership, including Schumer.
“Neither Senator Warren or I have ever shied away from a tough fight, and it’s exactly why I’m so happy to have her in my corner,” Wahls, the Iowa state senator, said in an interview on Thursday afternoon when asked about the senator’s criticisms of the DSCC.
Wahls said Warren’s endorsement on Thursday will be a boost in his primary, where he is facing state Rep. Josh Turek. Two of Warren’s Democratic Senate colleagues — Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, a former DSCC chairwoman, and New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan — endorsed Turek this week.
Wahls and Warren have known each other for years. He endorsed her presidential campaign in 2019 after she showed interest in an issue he was working in the state legislature: protecting Iowans living in mobile homes from investment firms looking to take over trailer parks.
“She was willing to meet with constituents of mine and help elevate this fight against these predatory companies at the national level,” Wahls said, noting that he and Warren have kept in touch “periodically” since her unsuccessful 2020 presidential run.
“When we launched this campaign for Senate, she gave me great advice about how important it is to go everywhere, talk with everyone, to think big about the challenges that are facing our state,” Wahls said.
Wahls wasn’t the only backer of Warren’s presidential campaign who earned her endorsement this week. McMorrow, the Michigan state senator, also endorsed Warren’s 2020 run. McMorrow recounted in a Substack post that she first connected with Warren over the phone after McMorrow won her first state legislative race in 2018 and later endorsed Warren’s presidential campaign, writing that they have “stayed close ever since.”
In backing McMorrow, Warren diverged from another leading progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders also endorsed Platner in Maine but is backing former Wayne County health director Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens is the other leading candidate in that primary.
Like Sanders, Warren’s endorsement comes with a fundraising boost as she uses her sizable grassroots fundraising list to help preferred candidates.
Wahls was already seeing that boost just a few hours after Warren endorsed him, saying his campaign was on track to have its best fundraising day this month and potentially the best of the entire quarter so far.
A McMorrow campaign official said Warren’s endorsement on Wednesday came alongside one of the five best digital fundraising days for her campaign. Officials with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign in Minnesota and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s campaign in Illinois also told NBC News that Warren’s endorsement also came with fundraising bumps.
”That’s huge for a campaign that’s building a grassroots digital fundraising program from the ground up,” said a senior member of Stratton’s campaign team.
Warren has also hit the campaign trail for her candidates, including Stratton, who won her primary on Tuesday. Warren campaigned with the Illinois lieutenant governor last week and appeared in social media videos with Stratton. In one video, Stratton showed Warren her “persist” tattoo, a nod to Warren’s viral Senate floor moment in 2017 while opposing then-Sen. Jeff Sessions’, R-Ala., nomination for attorney general.
Warren also campaigned with Flanagan in Minnesota in August, drawing a crowd of roughly 1,500 supporters one year before the state’s primary. Flanagan is competing against Rep. Angie Craig in a primary that has also divided Senate Democrats and potential 2028 presidential hopefuls.
Warren has also continued to play an active role in the Democratic Party, doling out more than $400,000 from her campaign to nearly two dozen state parties earlier this year. Warren told Politico at the time that the investments were not an early sign that she was eyeing another presidential campaign.
Asked if he would like to see her run for president again, Wahls said he has been concentrating on his own primary race, which is coming up on June 2.
“I am so focused on the next 74 days, I have not given even an ounce of thought to 2028,” Wahls said. “I think if she ran, she’d be a tremendous candidate once again.”
