BOSTON – Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren spoke to a packed Florian Hall in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood Tuesday evening, talking about her humble beginnings in Oklahoma, her ideas for turning around the economy and where her campaign money is coming from.

During a town hall-style discussion that spanned more than an hour, Warren told one supporter who asked if she was going to truly be a fighter for her constituents, that she never planned on running for office but she didn't come this far to bow to pressure from anyone.

"I was once a 13-year-old waiting tables and I didn't scratch my way to Harvard Law school to be anybody's sissy," Warren said. "I'm a teacher but I'm not here to teach you a lesson. I'm here to win. The only reason I'm in this race is to make changes we need to make. The middle class has been squeezed for a generation now and it can't hold on much longer. We're running out of time."

Warren, who previously held the role of special advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Barack Obama, spoke about the financial crisis in the U.S. and highlighted her ideas about what she would do differently than those currently in the Senate, namely Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

When one face in the crowd asked what she would do to create jobs, Warren said she would do the opposite of what Brown did.

Warren mentioned three different job bills that were up for a vote in the Senate in 2011. Republicans, including Brown, voted down all three, primarily due to the fact that they were paid for by a tax increase on Americans netting more than a million dollars a year.

"I would have voted yes on all three of those bills," Warren said, adding that she would aim to reinvest more money in education and infrastructure for "long-term" job growth.

"China puts nine percent of its gross domestic product into infrastructure. Europe reinvests five percent," Warren said. "The U.S. invests just 2.4 percent into infrastructure and is constantly looking at ways to cut that. That is not how you build a future."

When Brown was asked by MassLive.com about his stance on extending unemployment benefits prior to the House of Representatives showdown in late December, he said he would support it if it was paid for with "unobligated federal dollars" rather than a tax increase.

Warren was asked by one man at Florian Hall what she would do to cut the national deficit,

which has topped $15 trillion dollars. She said that although the winding down of the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan will help reduce spending that contributed to the outstanding debt, more steps need to be taken.

"Right now there are several huge profit-turning companies that are paying no taxes at all," Warren said. "How long will we subsidize those who have already made it? I would work to close the tax loopholes for the big companies, like the oil and pharmaceutical industries. It is not only bad economic policy (to give those companies tax breaks) but it is wrong morally."

A woman in the crowd asked Warren about her campaign finances, primarily where her money was coming from.

"We all hear about Super PACs and these types of groups but many of us don't know much about them," the woman said. "What groups are supporting you? Where is your money coming from?"

Warren said that although a majority of her campaign donations have come from small contributions of $100 or less, there are a few Wall Street contributors among the crowd.

U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren visits Quincy, Mass. 22 Gallery: U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren visits Quincy, Mass.

"Scott Brown is sitting on $10 million," Warren said. "I am the candidate that Wall Street is trying to keep out of this job. But I do have donors on Wall Street, but they know what they're getting. They know that without responsibility, there is no long-term sustainability."

As of Sept. 30, the latest date campaign finance information was posted on the Federal Election Commission's website, Brown had $10,537,386 cash on hand while Warren had $3,036,092. New financial disclosure reports are expected in the coming weeks.

Warren was asked by another spectator why she wanted to be a Senator. The question wasn't so much policy based as it was human interest.

"If you're asking me why I would want to run for a job where I'd be the 100th least senior person in a dysfunctional body based on seniority, that is a question I had to answer for myself," Warren said. "For me it is an act of optimism. I believe I can make a change for the better. If I didn't believe I could make a change, I'd just stay home and focus on making more money, saying that since my family is taken care of everyone else is on their own."

Warren's appearance drew nearly 200 people Tuesday evening, following her tour of Quincy in the afternoon.

Prior to her question-and-answer portion of the event, she talked about how appreciative she is that she elevated to her current stature from where she once was.

"As a child, we had good years and tough years. I started working at nine watching the baby across the street when it had colic," Warren said. "When I graduated from law school I was nine months pregnant and unemployable. I took the bar and passed it. then I hung a shingle outside my house and practiced law from my living room. And when I think about how I'm a maintenance man's daughter who ended up as a fancy pants professor at Harvard, I remember that America is amazing."