Looking to Democrats' future on anniversary of Wellstone's death

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It was all business for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, at the University of Minnesota Sunday afternoon, where she gave a fiery speech to honor the 15-year anniversary of former Minnesota Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone's death.

Both Warren and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, used their time to address what many say is a growing rift between the Democratic Party's establishment wing and a young, growing progressive wing buoyed by the popularity of former presidential hopeful and current Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

"The Democratic party has allowed itself to become a presidential focused party, when it should be every race from dog catcher to the White House," Ellison said. "We have come a long way and we are not going back."

Other notable Democrats joined the pair to remember Wellstone's death as well as look to the party's future, including former Vice President Walter Mondale.

While some have high hopes that Warren might make the presidential ticket in 2020, Mondale simply said that he is heartened by the grassroots energy he's seen since the election of President Donald Trump last year. 

"We have got to get people stirred up," he said. "They have to feel like there's hope, and that hope has to be based on real things. So that's what we have to work on."

Wellstone died Oct. 25, 2002, when the plane he was on crashed in northern Minnesota. His wife and daughter died in the crash as well.