Elizabeth Warren has taken to describing her father as a janitor in an attempt to appear relatable to the working class. But according to the Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate’s brother, the claim is yet another of Warren’s self-serving exaggerations, and he isn’t happy about it.
A source close to one of Warren’s brothers, David Herring, has described the Oklahoma resident and Army veteran as “furious” over Warren’s account of their father, Donald Herring, working as a janitor. Warren has spoken on the campaign trail of an account in which her father lost a job as a salesman after a heart attack, and worked as a janitor in order to make ends meet for his family.
Herring has described his father as more of a maintenance worker than a janitor, being quoted as stating his father never worked as the latter.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being a janitor, of course. Having a father in the janitorial profession would lend strong working-class credibility to the Ivy League-educated lawyer.
But Warren shouldn’t claim her father was one in a deceptive attempt to booster her working class appeal when it appears he was more of a handyman. One might say those positions are synonymous, but the difference appears to be great enough in the case of Warren’s father that her brother has taken offense to her claim.
It appears from limited profiles of Warren’s brothers that they may actually trend conservative, and they aren’t a prominent presence in Warren’s campaign. The Massachusetts senator previously surged to a strong third place in Democratic primary polling, before falling back behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
It seems more exaggerated tales of her family history aren’t going to launch her back into serious contention for the nomination.