Who is Elizabeth Warren?

70 years old

Born in Oklahoma City; lives in Cambridge, Mass., and Washington

Former law professor; elected to the Senate in 2012

An expert in bankruptcy law who helped set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Obama administration

In late March, Jocelyn Roof, a sophomore at the University of Iowa, picked up a call from an unknown number and heard Senator Elizabeth Warren’s voice on the other end of the line. Warren asked her what got her “in this fight”—Roof said she was very concerned about income inequality—and thanked Roof for her $25 donation.

As soon as she got off the phone, Roof took a selfie of her shocked face. She posted it to Snapchat with the caption “MY WHOLE LIFE WAS MADE,” then screenshotted it and posted it to Twitter. Warren retweeted the selfie, with the comment “I’m so glad we got to talk!”

Before the call, Roof said she was undecided about who she would support in the Iowa caucuses. Afterwards, her enthusiasm for Warren “skyrocketed,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine voting for anyone else.” She started donating $5 to the campaign every month and buying snacks for volunteers at field offices. In the first three weeks of September, she registered more than 1,000 new voters on her University of Iowa campus, independent of the Warren campaign.

We've got a long way to go in this race, but the growing partisan divide around Donald Trump and the fear of losing to him in 2020 means electability will only grow in importance to Democratic primary voters. And that's bad news right now for every candidate whose name doesn't rhyme with Schmiden.