With former backers of the effort to draft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for president continuing to hop on board his campaign, Bernie Sanders issued a statement Monday saying he "welcomes" their support.
"Elizabeth Warren is a good friend," the Vermont Senator said. "Like millions of her supporters around the country, I have great respect and admiration for her. That is why it is so gratifying that so many people who wanted Elizabeth to run for president are now getting behind our campaign..."
Sanders issued his statement just days after Ready for Warren campaign manager Erica Sagrans and co-founder Charles Lenchner wrote an op-ed for CNN saying that Sanders is a "good fit" for Warren supporters.
Several former Run Warren Run organizers are already working for the Sanders campaign. In New Hampshire, Kurt Ehrenberg, former state director of Run Warren Run, is running Sanders' campaign. And in Iowa, Blair Lawton, state field director for the Run Warren Run effort, has been hired to serve as Sanders' political director. Several other members of Sanders' campaign in Iowa were also part of the state's Run Warren Run effort.
In recent weeks, Sanders has been gaining ground on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. A recent Suffolk University poll had him just 9 percentage points behind the former Secretary of State.
Sanders isn't the only Democratic candidate courting Warren supporters. Clinton has made a point of heaping praise on Warren, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said during a stop in New Hampshire earlier this year that he would welcome her supporters.
