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ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Reminiscent of the surprising momentum of Donald Trump’s populist presidential campaign four summers ago, Elizabeth Warren was forced to turn a planned town hall meeting into a rally when more than 10,000 showed to hear the Democratic contender rail against Washington corruption.

The Warren campaign pegged the overflow crowd gathered on the grassy quad of a small liberal arts college at 12,000, the largest since she launched her bid Dec. 31. The liberal populist, the surprise of the summer after stumbling out of the gate, did not disappoint. She offered a smattering of her signature government reform plans as she blamed the nation’s ills on a federal government beholden to big corporations and the so-called rich.

“I’m not doing this because I’m cranky. I’m not mad at anybody,” Warren said during remarks that lasted about an hour. “If you built a great fortune in America, you built it at least in part using workers all of us paid to educate.”

During a brief news conference afterward, in the midst of satisfying a long line of selfie-seekers, Warren addressed questions about her decision to issue an unequivocal apology for claiming Native American ancestry. The atonement was delivered to a conference of tribal leaders in Iowa prior to her evening campaign rally at Macalester College in Minnesota’s capital city.

The Massachusetts senator had asserted Native American heritage for several years. The issue eventually became a major political hurdle for her in the 2020 primary. “It was good to be there with tribal leaders and tribal citizens. I was just glad to have this opportunity, and it was a statement from the heart to people who have welcomed me with open arms,” she said.

Warren, 70, clad in a black blouse and powder-blue sweater, spoke without notes, describing the financial struggles her family endured during her childhood in Oklahoma before moving on to her career as a law professor and politician. “I have a plan for that” has become a staple Warren slogan, and she did not disappoint.

The senator summarized her proposals to provide taxpayer-subsidized college education, government-run healthcare, implement a tax on personal wealth that reaches the tens of millions, “end lobbying as we know it,” outlaw gerrymandering, and secure the nation’s voting systems. Like Trump, Warren labeled a corrupt federal government, which she described as manipulated by monied interests, as the overriding obstacle standing between Americans and a better life.

That message has carried her from single-digit contender to second in the polls nationally, second in Iowa — host of the first nominating contest of the Democratic primary — and second in New Hampshire.

“I have the biggest anti-corruption plan since Watergate,” Warren said, presenting herself as a change agent uniquely suited to take on the system. “Here’s the bad news: We need the biggest anti-corruption plan since Watergate.”

The crowd stayed until the end, and more than an hour after Warren finished, the line for photographs with the candidate still stretched what amounted to a couple of city blocks. Not every presumed Democratic voter in the audience was yet convinced that Warren is the right candidate to face Trump in 2020, but she left most with a positive impression.

“I could see myself voting for someone else, but I’m leaning heavily towards Warren,” said Gareth Armson, 33, an attorney. “I’ve seen some of the other candidates in the debates that really surprised me with how well they did. I thought they had good things to say. But they just seemed liked regular, old white men who are the same thing we’ve had for a really long time.”