A consistent but uneasy front-runner in Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary scramble, Joe Biden is flexing his muscle with new endorsements from three congressmen: two former chairmen of the Congressional Black Caucus and a former Florida governor.
The moves from Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri and Charlie Crist of Florida underscore Biden’s play both for the party establishment and minority voters who will be key in the early stages of the primary calendar, especially in South Carolina’s late February primary and the Southern states that follow in March.
The decisions from Butterfield and Cleaver also come as a potential blow to Sen. Kamala Harris of California, one of two black major Democratic candidates along with Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. Harris still leads Biden in total Black Caucus endorsements, but she’s struggled to establish herself as a top-tier candidate alongside Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In separate interviews with The Associated Press, the congressional trio offered similar reasoning for backing Biden, saying the white former vice president represents the ideological center of the Democratic Party and can appeal to the widest range of voters in a potential general election matchup with President Donald Trump.
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“He can connect with the average American — black, white or brown,” said Butterfield, arguing that Sanders and Warren don’t have the same reach and could even threaten Democrats’ prospects to defeat an unpopular Republican incumbent. “Warren and Sanders cannot win North Carolina,” Butterfield said, because their policies veer too far left. “I have great respect for both of them, but they cannot win North Carolina. Joe Biden can.”
Butterfield and Cleaver finalized their decisions days after the CBC’s annual conference. Their endorsements give Biden three former CBC chairmen, with Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana already serving as Biden’s campaign chairman.
Cleaver said he “struggled” with the decision, alluding to Booker and Harris when he said that “there are others that I’m closer to” than Biden. “I have nothing negative to say about them at all. I hugged both of them Saturday night” at the CBC gala, Cleaver said.
But he praised the former vice president’s experience and legislative prowess and said he gives Democrats the best chance to win in November, even in states, like Missouri, that moved decidedly to Trump in 2016.
“I told him, ‘If you are the nominee, you have to campaign everywhere; you cannot surrender any geography to Mr. Trump,” Cleaver said, recalling a recent conversation he had with Biden. “He assured me he will not do that.”
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Crist, who is white, said Biden is the right candidate to navigate a fractured electorate. A former Republican, Crist served as a GOP governor before switching parties. “I’ve known Joe Biden for a long time,” Crist said, describing Biden as “an empathetic figure” with a “keen intellect and a deep soul.”
Cleaver and Butterfield said they’ve each heard criticisms from some younger black leaders and activists who question some of the complexities of Biden’s record on civil rights and the 76-year-old candidate’s understanding of racial politics in 2019.
“A lot of the young people don’t remember how supportive he’s been on civil rights,” Cleaver said. “He was strong on it back in the days when you could lose an election talking about civil rights.”
Cleaver recalled being mayor of Kansas City in the 1990s when Biden helped steer a crime bill that critics now partially blame for mass incarceration, even as it also included federal money for more police officers and a ban on some military-style guns.
“I supported the crime bill,” Cleaver said. “We had the Crips and the Bloods, a Jamaican gang … crack cocaine had exploded.”
Echoing a point Biden has made on the campaign trail, Cleaver said most of the Congressional Black Caucus supported the measure, along with nearly all the black mayors from large cities, even if there were sentencing measures that were now opposed. “Ministers, politicians, mayors, city council members were all screaming, ‘Let’s do something!'” he said.
“Millennials don’t remember that history. … Joe Biden — and I’ve told his people this — should not apologize for that.”
