(CNN) Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took a major step toward a presidential run on Monday, announcing in a video message and email to supporters that she is forming an exploratory committee ahead of an expected campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Warren is a searing critic of the President, and Trump has responded by openly mocking her Native American heritage and referring to her as “Pocahontas.” Her decision in October to respond to Trump and other critics by releasing the results of a DNA test aimed at proving her ancestry fell flat with many Democrats and overshadowed her midterm message. Cignoli offered that while federal law bars candidates actively running for two different federal offices from transferring money between their separate campaign accounts, “there is so much that you can do with your exploratory (committee) that will benefit the campaign itself.”

“Certainly it’s separate accounts, but the money, the time, the energy that you put into the exploratory it’s very much like being in the early stages of an actual, full-blown campaign,” he said. Warren’s national profile, which traces back to her work as a watchdog following the 2008 bank bailouts, immediately places her among the favorites, alongside former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and rising star Beto O’Rourke, the departing Texas congressman who just lost a bid for the US Senate. The Cherokee Nation responded to the results at the time by arguing that “a DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship.”

"Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a press release.
Joining several other Democrats in the race, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announces the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for running in the 2020 presidential election.