Warren Apologizes After Ex-Staffers Speak Out

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she believes the accounts of six minority women who left her campaign in Nevada—and she is sorry "they have had a bad experience." Warren issued the apology hours after Politico reported that six women of color have "bolted" from Warren's Nevada organization since November because they felt sidelined and "tokenized." "I take personal responsibility for this and I'm working with my team to address these concerns," Warren said in New Hampshire on Thursday. "It is important that we stay vigilant. These women have been courageous to come forward, and again, I apologize." Some of the women said they were "silenced" and complaints to management did not improve matters.

"I felt like a problem—like I was there to literally bring color into the space but not the knowledge and voice that comes with it," one field organizer told Politico. "We all were routinely silenced and not given a meaningful chance on the campaign." Kristen Orthman, Warren's communication director, declined to comment on specifics to CNN, but said: "We have an organization of more than a thousand people, and whenever we hear concerns, we take them seriously." Some of the women who left the campaign say Spanish-language organizing lagged behind in the state, which votes Feb. 22. (More Elizabeth Warren stories.)