Rep. Jackie Speier of California on Friday became the latest Democrat on Capitol Hill to formally back former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s bid for the White House.
“I’m proud to endorse Joe Biden,” Ms. Speier said in a statement issued by the Democratic front-runner’s 2020 presidential campaign.
“His integrity, values and experience set Joe apart and make him the best suited to beat Donald Trump and get our country back on track,” Ms. Speier said in the statement. “He will be a uniting leader and president for all Americans.”
Ms. Speier, a six-term congresswoman elected to the House of Representatives in 2008, added that voting to pass the Affordable Care Act and to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act — two measures championed by the Obama administration and undertaken while Mr. Biden was vice president — are among some of her “proudest moments in Congress.”
The congresswoman’s endorsement of Mr. Biden’s campaign was announced on the heels of the candidate recently outpacing fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, as both compete to become the Democratic nominee this November.
Her endorsement came too late to influence her Democratic constituents in California, however, where Mr. Sanders outperformed Mr. Biden during the state’s presidential primary on March 3. Mr. Sanders received roughly 34% of the vote in that contest, effectively awarding the senator 210 of the state’s 415 delegates up for grabs; Mr. Biden received 27.2% of the vote and was awarded 162 delegates, comparatively.
Mr. Biden has won 854 delegates so far as a result of statewide nominating contests, or nearly half of the 1,991 needed to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to run against President Trump in November. Mr. Sanders has won 701.
Both candidates are currently scheduled to participate in their first head-to-head Democratic presidential primary debate Sunday in D.C.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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