Cape Codders Pack Sen. Warren Town Hall Forum

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WEST BARNSTABLE – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren was on Cape Cod Sunday for her latest stop on a town hall meeting tour across the Commonwealth.

Warren was joined onstage by 9th District Congressman Bill Keating and Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr at the Tilden Arts Center at Cape Cod Community College where more than 1,000 people turned up to see her.

The packed crowed filled, not just the auditorium, but two overflow rooms leading to a delay in the start of the program.

The Massachusetts Democrat spoke and took questions from the crowd of primarily supporters for just under two hours before offering to take a selfie with anyone interested.

During her presentation Warren kept her focus on national issues particularly on the Republicans’ latest health care bill currently being considered by the senate.

She told the crowd, “We have to defend the Affordable Care Act as it is. 

Crowds wait in line before Warren’s town hall forum

We cannot, cannot, cannot let the Republicans fight it, we cannot let destroy the exchanges, we cannot let them take an ax to Medicaid.”

She also took issue with her traditional foes: President Trump, Wall Street banks, and the one-percenters.

While a podium was on stage, Warren largely avoided it. She moved around the dais, gestured enthusiastically, and for a moment showed off some dance moves.

While Warren took just a handful a questions, most were focused on how Democrats can do more to be involved in a national political system increasingly under the control of the Republicans.

When Warren was asked to comment on her future plans and to speculate on who the Democrats might put up to face President Trump in 2020, she was predictably coy,

“Democrats, God bless us one and all, we get really excited about presidential elections and that means every four years we show up, we volunteer, we turn out. Republicans show up every year,” she said, “We have to build for 2018, if we can’t make Democrats turn out in 2018 then we’ve got a big problem going forward. 2018 has got to be our year.”

The senator promised, however, that after the 2018 election, during which she is defending her own seat, she would return to the Cape and give a less ambiguous answer.

When asked specifically about the Cape’s ground and wastewater concerns, Warren tacked to a more general answer on the state of the nation’s infrastructure, saying that over 

the last 35 years the country has underspent on infrastructure to the tune of three trillion dollars.

“We need to build a future, not just for a handful of people, but we need to build a better future for all of us. to say that we’re going to build an America that gives everybody a chance to get in the game, a chance to build some security for themselves and their families,” she said, “I believe in that America.

I am the daughter of a janitor who ended up going to a commuter college that cost 50 dollars a semester. And that one open door let to another and another and another and I ended up as a professor and a United States Senator. I am grateful for that America.”

Outside the college, several dozen of Republican Geoff Deihl’s supporters carried signs and banners to promote Warren’s likely general election challenger. Inside the hall, the senator word not comment on Deihl or any other potential republican opponent and told reporters she didn’t think she saw his supporters on her way in.   

By DAVID BEATTY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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