Dem senator sees opening on left for possible 2020 bid

Dem senator sees opening on left for possible 2020 bid
By Reid Wilson - 04/18/18 06:00 AM EDT


PORTLAND, Ore. — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is quietly making clear to liberal advocacy groups that he’s available for a 2020 bid, even as the Democratic field of potential White House hopefuls fills with better-known progressives.

Merkley, the soft-spoken liberal who sent his kids to the same public school he attended in a blue-collar neighborhood here, commands neither the star power nor the crowd-thrilling electricity of his close Senate allies, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). But what he lacks in wattage, he has begun making up for with powerful new friends.

Every two weeks, Merkley’s Senate office plays host to a meeting between progressive senators — Warren is a frequent attendee — and the outside groups channeling Democratic excitement ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. The “inside-outside” meetings, as Merkley calls them, give liberal groups like Indivisible, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Daily Kos a chance to compare notes.

“We have to do a lot better job in coordinating the inside-outside conversation, for these mass-action groups to understand the battles we face in this building, for us to understand their sentiments, their organizations, their passions, and try to have us all moving in the same direction,” Merkley said in a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office. “Maybe not using the same boats or the same paddles or moving the same speed, but at least not crashing into each other.”

As Merkley plays host, he has also built alliances with those groups, which could serve as a platform for a presidential run.

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http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/383664-dem-senator-sees-opening-on-left-for-possible-2020-bid