Leftwingers hold back their endorsements for Hillary Clinton until she presents a clearer campaign ‘vision’ as the only Democrat in the running so far

Hillary Clinton is already under pressure from voices on the left of American politics to establish her policy credentials for tackling issues such as economic inequality and Wall Street reform at the outset of her campaign.



As the former secretary of state rolls out her run for president in 2016, several of the most prominent figures on the so-called progressive wing of the Democratic party are refusing to offer their support without a clearer vision from Clinton on a clutch of liberal cause célèbres, ranging from climate change to trade and back again.

Many top leftwingers have previously supported figures such as senator Elizabeth Warren with a more explicit vision of this agenda. But as hopes for a meaningful primary challenge from her side of the party fades, liberal focus is quickly switching toward an effort to convince Clinton into shifting her own position instead.

“It has to include progressive taxation,” said New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, Clinton’s former campaign manager during her run for US senate, in an NBC interview shortly before Sunday’s announcement. “It has to include increases in wages and benefits. It has to include the willingness to tax the wealthy so we can invest in infrastructure, so we can invest in education again.”

“I think it’s important that [Clinton] come out with her vision as soon as possible,” he added, pointedly refusing to endorse Clinton until she does.

While Clinton’s team has stressed patience in campaign rollout that they say will get more specific in the coming weeks, outspoken progressives were disappointed in the lack of policy detail contained in the website and video that came with Clinton’s Sunday announcement.

“I was not particularly impressed with it,” said Zephyr Teachout, a New York Democrat who ran for governor in 2014, warning on Twitter it was “surprisingly free of content, lacking autobiography, policy [and] vision”.

Teachout said she had not given up on the chance of more progressive candidates entering the race – or of Clinton taking a more populist approach on issues such as free trade and banking reform, on which Democratic leadership has tended to be more economically liberal in the past.

Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) Clinton ad announcing campaign is surprisingly free of content, lacking autobiography, policy, vision. Hope she quickly holds press conf.

“There is a hunger for open repudiation of the financial deregulation of the first Clinton era,” Teachout told the Guardian.

Others believe there is plenty of time to flesh out Clinton’s progressive credentials in what they hope will be a “synthetic primary” to make up for the lack of serious opposition for the Democratic nomination.

“Hillary Clinton’s campaign launch begins an important stage of the national conversation,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has been most active championing the agenda of Warren, the liberal senator from Massachusetts who has repeatedly insisted she will not stand against Clinton.

“On most issues of concern to voters, the debate inside the Clinton campaign and across the nation will not be about going left versus right, but rather going big versus small,” Green added.

What does Hillary Clinton stand for? Policy agenda remains mystery in lead-up to campaign launch Read more

De Blasio, who ran Clinton’s 2000 campaign, echoed the view that such pressure may help shape a bolder Clinton agenda, even without the formal entry of more radical opponents like Warren.

“Clearly what’s happening in the progressive [wing] of the Democratic party is a demand for our candidates to come forward with a vision,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “That’s creating some of the same positive pressure you see in the primary process.”

For their part, Clinton’s campaign team insist her message is very much about promoting social mobility and challenging vested interests.

“The core purpose of this campaign is to create a better economic future for everyday Americans,” said one senior adviser during a conference call with reporters on Monday. “We understand one thing: we have to earn this,” he added.

Whether Clinton’s policies prove as bold as some hope is another matter, however, and she is likely to face a primary challenge from at least one Democratic opponent – former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley – who made clear again on Monday that he intends to run to her left.

Warren, though ruling herself out as a 2016 candidate, has also been more vocal in recent days, calling on Clinton to make clear where she stands on issues such as the minimum wage and equal pay legislation.

Nevertheless, other voices on the progressive side of the party have been encouraged by early hints of a strong focus on inequality as well other key issues such a climate change – something Clinton’s current campaign chairman, John Podesta, said was also “top of the agenda”.

John Podesta (@johnpodesta) Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy. Top of the agenda. #Hillary2016

“She has been as specific as most other candidates,” said retired US congressman Barney Frank in an interview on Monday.

“She has several times now reaffirmed her position on something that is going to be an important issue next year, which is financial reform,” added the architect of post-crash banking reforms. “She’s been very clear that she wants to stick with financial reform.”