Topline
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reaffirmed his support for President Joe BIden’s reelection bid in a pointed essay Saturday in the New York Times, offering solid left-wing support for Biden amid a whirlwind of Democratic calls for Biden to step aside in the November election.
Bernie Sanders, left, and Joe Biden walk on the White House lawn in April.
Key Facts
“It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking,” Sanders wrote, lamenting “too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad” criticizing the aptitude of Biden.
The 81-year-old Biden is the left’s “strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump,” according to Sanders.
Some 19 congressional Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the race over the last two weeks, including Sanders’ counterpart, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., after Biden’s debate performance and subsequent gaffes sparked questions about Biden’s mental fitness, with polls tilting toward former president Trump, 78, over the last three weeks.
“I know: Mr. Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump,” conceded the 82-year-old Sanders, before declaring Biden “will be the candidate and should be the candidate.”
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Key Background
Sanders, who ran against Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, reiterated his Biden backing in a statement earlier this week, joining other progressive Congress members including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The Times’ opinion section has been a hotbed for Democratic figures to discuss Biden’s reelection, with actor and Biden fundraiser George Clooney calling him to step aside in a Wednesday piece and the paper’s editorial board urging Biden to do so June 28. Some $90 million earmarked for a Democratic presidential political action committee is on hold should Biden remain the party’s nominee, the Times reported Saturday. Several deep-pocketed figures have called for Biden to leave the race, such as billionaires Mark Pincus, Christy Walton and Michael Novogratz. Biden said as recently as Friday he intends to remain in the race. The Democratic National Convention will take place next month in Chicago, when the party will officially tap its nominee.
