Senator Elizabeth Warren
Warren turns to intellectuals and academics for her policy positions. But as her policy director Jonathan Donenberg
explained, her policies are ultimately all her own ideas—and that’s why she can explain each in a 30-second elevator pitch or a 10-minute policy speech. A
Politico piece detailed many of the “Ivory Tower team of wonks” behind Warren’s policies, noting that many have Ivy League credentials and other elite accolades. Donenberg attended Yale Law and was a Fulbright scholar. Moreover, many have worked with Warren in the Senate, creating almost an in-house think tank for her policy vision.
Bharat Ramamurti is a key domestic policy adviser. He worked in Warren's Senate office on banking and economic policy. Many Warren aides and advisers, like Representative Katie Porter of California, are former law school students, and have become a network of experts on which Warren has relied.
Warren also consults with the likes of Paul Krugman, a
New York Times columnist and noted economist at CUNY, and Berkeley professors Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, inequality experts who assisted Warren in developing her wealth tax. Ganesh Sitaraman, a Vanderbilt professor and another former Warren student, is not on the campaign payroll but is a longtime Warren adviser. Full disclosure: Sitaraman is a board member at the
Prospect.
Sasha Baker is Warren's policy adviser on national security and was formerly the deputy chief of staff for Obama's secretary of defense, Ash Carter. Mehrsa Baradaran advised Warren's campaign on its
child-care proposal and is now a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. She also serves on the board of this magazine.