Andrew Yang took aim at fellow White House hopeful and Democratic front-runner Joseph R. Biden in an interview released Wednesday over his pitch for beating President Trump in 2020.
Mr. Yang, an entrepreneur seeking the Democratic nomination, discussed the former vice president’s rivaling campaign during an interview with CBS News set to air Thursday.
“If you listen to Joe talk about it, his main argument is that his election is going to be a restoration of the Obama-Biden administration, in essence,” Mr. Yang said. “Which is a move, literally, backwards in time. And so to me, saying that we can somehow erase not just Donald Trump’s presidency, but all of the reasons why people voted for Donald Trump, to me is not correct.
“I mean, these things have happened, and we’re going to have to address them,” he said. “We’re going to have to solve the problems that got Donald Trump elected, one, if we’re gonna win, and two, if we’re gonna move the country forward.”
Mr. Biden’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Several recent polls have placed Mr. Biden, the vice president for eight years during the Obama administration, as the preferred candidates among Democrats hoping to stop Mr. Trump from winning a second term in 2020.
Despite polling well behind the former vice president among registered Democrats, Mr. Yang said that he is the only other candidate capable of drawing votes away from Mr. Trump.
“I’m one of only two candidates in the field that 10% or more of Donald Trump voters say that they would support,” Mr. Yang told CBS. “It’s because I’m focused on solving the problems that they see around them every day. And I’m laser-focused on trying to make their lives better. That’s why I’m getting thousands of Trump voters as well as independents and libertarians and Democrats and progressives. If I’m the Democratic nominee, we win. That’s the math.”
Mr. Biden and Mr. Yang have both qualified to participate in the Sept. 12 primary debate in Texas, organized by the Democratic National Committee. They have reserved spots alongside Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Sen. Kamala Harris of California; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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