ALL WOMAN TICKET? Harry Reid Wants Elizabeth Warren To Be Vice President for Hillary.... He likes winning.

06/08/2016 03:32 pm ET

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) believes Elizabeth Warren should be the running mate of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to four Senate sources familiar with Reid’s thinking.

Warren & Reid

Reid had initially been skeptical of the chatter around Warren, publicly warning that Democrats couldn’t afford to lose the seat the Massachusetts senator currently occupies. But The Boston Globe reported last week that he tasked attorney Marc Elias with studying how manageable the loss would be. Elias is, not coincidentally, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign.

As Reid has examined the issue in recent weeks, he has grown confident the Democrats could hold onto Warren’s Senate seat and retake the upper chamber, according to sources. He also believes they could even put the House in play for Democrats, the sources said.

The case for Warren is straightforward: She’s an outspoken populist-progressive who could rally supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to Clinton’s cause. Her grassroots fundraising prowess is legendary and could offset whatever loss of campaign revenue came from financial industry leaders souring on Clinton. And Warren’s appeal goes far beyond the Sanders camp: A January 2015 focus groupof independents and Republicans found that she and her message resonate strongly with working and middle class voters of all stripes. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is among the lawmakers to have questioned whether the country would be ready to elect an all-woman ticket. Reporters asked Reid about Tester’s open question on Tuesday — and he said he thought the ticket would do just fine.

One source close to Reid said that “he’s been back and forth on this” and is still concerned about the slim risk it puts Warren’s seat in. “Lately, he’s been leaning toward and sending signals for HRC to make the ask,” the source added. more