Like Elizabeth Warren, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio isn’t running for president — he’s running to influence the presidential race.

So when he and Warren appear together Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington before he unveils his Contract with America for the left, it will be the latest step in the Democrats’ primary within the primary: liberals’ effort to figure out how to push Hillary Clinton to the left.


The primary within the primary may prove more challenging for Clinton than the real thing, in which she’s leading competitors by up to 50 points in some polls.

James Carville, the longtime Clinton adviser, compared de Blasio’s efforts with the Club for Growth pressuring Republicans to move to the right on taxes: “It’s a natural thing that happens in presidential politics,” he said.

Nonetheless, the progressive mayor’s swing through the capital is designed to kick the Democratic debate up a notch just as Warren escalates her own fight with President Barack Obama in a trade dispute that’s also entangled Clinton. But it will also represent a balancing act, as de Blasio — Clinton’s former Senate campaign manager — looks to influence the discussion without directly opposing the dominating front-runner.

After his joint appearance with Warren, de Blasio will stand alongside liberal lawmakers and labor leaders on Capitol Hill to roll out a policy wish list. Progressives close to de Blasio say the hard part will be laying down an achievable marker for candidates — including Clinton — while still applying enough pressure to get their attention.

“The challenge is that a lot of this will just get a head nod” from Clinton, said one progressive Democratic leader.

As they maneuver for influence, Warren and de Blasio have taken up much of the oxygen from the party’s actual candidates, grabbing headlines and jumping in the policy trenches — in de Blasio’s case going as far as to effectively hit the campaign trail before revealing his “Progressive Agenda” on Tuesday.

But with the former secretary of state claiming commanding leads in national and state-level polling, in many cases performing better among liberals than among all registered Democrats, the question of how best to drag her to the left without alienating her is still outstanding.

Clinton’s team is quick to predict that another candidate will reach at least 30 percent of the vote in Iowa, the first state with a 2016 contest, much of it coming from Democrats who would like to see Warren run. That concern partially explains Clinton’s recent leftward shifts on issues including immigration reform and criminal justice. Meanwhile, her campaign has remained in contact with liberal groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is encouraging Clinton to embrace expanding Social Security and a debt-free college plan.

But so far, Clinton stands far ahead of her likely competitors — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee — in polling, reducing pressure on her to appease liberals.

In that vacuum, Warren and de Blasio have sought to position themselves as kingmakers among activists in early-voting and swing states, a role de Blasio has pursued by stopping in Iowa and Wisconsin. His Progressive Agenda is designed to be broad enough for Clinton and other Democrats to embrace wholeheartedly: He is expected to call for universal pre-kindergarten, a higher minimum wage, and a paid family leave policy — all of which Clinton has mentioned favorably in recent months.

And de Blasio’s Wednesday rollout follows a similar speech in late April by AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka — an address that read like a warning memo to Clinton about how to gain crucial union support.

“Standing with working people once in a while won’t work. Candidates can’t hedge bets any longer,” said Trumka on April 27.

The Clinton campaign named a Labor Outreach director on April 28.

The mayor’s stop in Washington comes at a time when Clinton has been caught between Obama and Warren over supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement she helped negotiate as secretary of state. Warren and Obama traded barbs over the weekend, as the president told Yahoo News Warren is “a politician like everybody else” when trying to explain her opposition to the trade deal.

Clinton has avoided weighing in on the topic, only vaguely describing restrictions she would put on a deal rather than firmly opposing it.

Trade is just one policy where liberals are seeking to get more clarity from Clinton, particularly as Sanders intensifies his campaign schedule and O’Malley — who has recently focused on Wall Street reform and debt-free college — nears his expected late-May campaign launch.

The bar is low for Clinton to satisfy liberals in many cases, but she still faces some risk of alienating more centrist voters she might need in November 2016.

“Two areas where words alone do make a difference are expanding Social Security and debt-free college,” explained the PCCC’s Adam Green, pointing to a recent interview in which her campaign manager mentioned the latter. “If she were to give a speech or even send a tweet mentioning them, that would shift the entire national discussion.”

Thus, Warren and de Blasio have shown few signs of letting up. The mayor has pointedly refused to endorse her, and Warren has declined to ask the various organizations aiming to draft her into the race to stand down.

And de Blasio’s national travels aren’t ending on Tuesday. His next stop, on Wednesday, will be in Silicon Valley — 3,000 miles from Manhattan.