COLUMBIA, S.C. — The gym was hot. The lights malfunctioned. But the audience of nearly 1,000 people was engrossed as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a presidential hopeful, did what she does best: “nerd out,” as she puts it.
After talking up gun control laws and criminal justice reform on a recent South Carolina campaign swing, Warren dug into the nitty-gritty of free market regulation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency she helped create, which has returned more than $12 billion to people in refunds and canceled debts.