Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday took the first major step toward launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency, hoping her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates.

“No matter what our differences, most of us want the same thing,” the 69-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a video that highlights her family’s history in Oklahoma. “To be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules and take care of the people we love. That’s what I’m fighting for and that’s why today I’m launching an exploratory committee for president.”

Her video makes an appeal to the Democratic party’s base, noting the economic challenges facing people of color along with images of a women’s march and Warren’s participation at an LGBT event.

“America’s middle class is under attack,” Warren said in the video. “How did we get here? Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie. And they enlisted politicians to cut them a fatter slice.”

Among the bills Warren has introduced this year to stake out her presidential positions is a measure aimed at cutting rents by 10 percent nationwide, limiting “snob zoning,” producing 1.5 million new homes and expanding access to affordable housing. The bill recently received support from some Democratic members in the House of Representatives.

As Banker & Tradesman columnist Scott Van Voorhis wrote when the bill was announced in the fall, the measure could have wide-ranging impacts on the national housing shortage.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.