Ayanna Pressley backs Warren for president, splitting with rest of 'the squad'

CONCORD, New Hampshire — Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., announced Wednesday that she is backing home state Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 presidential contest.

Pressley's endorsement comes weeks after her three fellow members of the "the squad" — New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib —announced their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

In a video she tweeted Wednesday, Pressley said that "big structural change can't wait" and applauded Warren's myriad policy proposals, saying "the plans are about power."

Pressley's is arguably the most high-profile endorsement Warren has earned thus far. And in backing Warren, Pressley — who ran an insurgent progressive campaign to oust a longtime Democratic congressman during the 2018 primary — not only embraces a fellow Massachusetts lawmaker, but could act as a prominent black surrogate on the trail.

She will campaign with the Massachusetts senator in North Carolina this week, Pressley's chief of staff confirmed to NBC News.