Elizabeth Warren thrills progressives and chills Wall Street as she rails against a political system she says favors big banks, lobbyists and other well-heeled interests against middle-class and poor families struggling to make ends meet. Those themes coursed through the former Harvard law professor’s Senate floor speeches, legislative proposals, books, and the 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign Warren lost to Joe Biden. Warren’s transition from academic to politician began in 1995, when she was asked by former Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.) , to join a panel reviewing bankruptcy laws. Warren’s work attracted the attention of Edward Kennedy (D), the long-serving Massachusetts liberal whose Senate seat she now holds.

Learn what Elizabeth Warren says about finding common ground