Why Democrats are brushing off Elizabeth Warren's finance staffing shuffle

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) big-money sidestep may not be a big deal after all.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that the Warren campaign's finance director Michael Pratt resigned because the 2020 contender pledged to only pursue individual donations. Pratt reportedly suggested Warren would fail without a consistent stream of big money, but Democrats have quickly come to her defense to say that's not true.

In response to the Times story, Wall Street Journal campaign finance reporter Julie Bykowicz tweeted that "a finance director quitting is never a positive thing for a presidential campaign," and that there was "no way to spin that." Yet Dan Pfeiffer, a former official in former President Barack Obama's administration, poured cold water on that whole idea.

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It's true that Warren is still polling in the upper end of the 2020 Democratic spectrum, and that she keeps cranking out policy proposals like she's already in office. Still, the Times article rightly pointed out that Warren is "struggl[ing] in early fundraising." Pete Buttigieg, who joined the 2020 race in January as a longshot, reported Monday that he'd raised $7 million so far — about as much as Warren has reported taking in since her November launch.

Read more about Warren's donation disagreement at The New York Times.