NORTHFIELD — A top Democratic campaign surrogate invoked the late Sen. Paul Wellstone in Northfield on Saturday, echoing his populist tone in urging voters to give her colleague Al Franken a second term.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren rallied a crowd of 400 dotted with old Wellstone T-shirts at Carleton College, where Wellstone taught and planted his political roots. Warren and a slew of other Democrats — including Franken — urged voters to help keep Wellstone’s political dream alive, often repeating his signature line: “We all do better when we all do better.”

Wellstone served in the Senate from 1991 until he died in a 2002 plane crash. Republican Norm Coleman later won the seat.

“Paul was one of those people where you knew where he stood,” said Franken, who is fighting to retain Wellstone’s old Senate seat after beating Coleman in 2008. “He fought for the little guy.”

Franken and Warren, also a former professor, both called Wellstone a friend. And much like Wellstone, Warren has become a hero among some Democrats for her tough criticism of Wall Street, prompting calls for her to run for president.

Warren delivered a quasi-lecture during her get-out-the-vote message about how investments in education and infrastructure helped America rebound from the Great Depression. She and Franken emphasized their push to allow students to refinance student loan debt as integral to helping the middle class.

“We know how to build a future. We did it,” Warren said before pivoting to her pitch: Elect Democrats like Franken to make that happen again.

Warren, who won her Massachusetts Senate seat in 2012, has been traveling the country to defend fellow Senate Democrats against GOP attempts to retake control of the chamber. She stumped for Colorado Sen. Mark Udall and will travel to Iowa to campaign for Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley.

But Minnesota has not been a top target for national Republicans, despite Franken’s 312-vote victory in 2008. Franken leads GOP challenger Mike McFadden in public polling.

McFadden’s campaign said Warren’s visit to Minnesota showed the race is close, and said the Senate colleagues have voted with President Barack Obama 97 percent of the time.

“Today’s visit by yet another high-profile Democrats is a reminder that Al Franken fights for his party, not the people of Minnesota,” campaign spokesman Tom Erickson said in a statement.

After listening to Franken and Warren rally voters, Northfield resident Paula Lackie, 52, said she thinks Franken has worked hard to try to fill Wellstone’s shoes.

“If anybody can, I think Al’s been as close as we can get,” Lackie said. “Al’s his own man, and he’s fighting the fight.”