Elizabeth Warren Refuses to Criticize Outsize Influence of ‘Whitest States’: ‘I’m Just a Player in the Game’

Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren panicked a little when she was asked if Iowa and New Hampshire should be moved down on the primary schedule so “two of the whitest states in the country” don’t get such outsize attention from candidates.

On Friday night, Warren appeared at the Presidential Forum on Environmental Justice South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, SC, which was moderated by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman and former EPA official Mustafa Ali.

At the end of the Q&A, Goodman threw Senator Warren a major — and majorly awkward — curveball.

After Warren responded to a question about gentrification from Ali, Goodman segued into the presidential primary calendar, which places Iowa and New Hampshire as the first contests in the nation.

“Speaking about racial injustice, do you think the order of the primary states should change?” Goodman asked, adding “You have Iowa and New Hampshire…”

“Wait let me just, before you finish,” Warren interrupted. “Are you actually gonna ask me to sit here and criticize Iowa and New Hampshire?”

“No I’m asking about the order…” Goodman began again, and was again cut off.

“No, that is what Iowa and New Hampshire are all about,” Warren said.

“But, but let me just ask, they are two of the whitest states in the country, and then we move to South Carolina, with a very significant population of people of color,” Goodman said. “And it means the candidates spend so much of their time catering to those first two states, overall do you think that should change?”

“Look, I am just a player in the game on this one,” Warren said, then added “And I am delighted to be in South Carolina, thank you.”

Without a doubt, this would be a delicate question for any presidential candidate to answer, since they would all like to enjoy success in those early states, whose citizens jealously guard their status.

But the sheer unthinkability of any candidate criticizing or questioning the influence of these two states might be the clearest possible answer to Goodman’s question. More candidates should be asked this.

Watch the clip above, via Democracy Now!