Biden, moving into full campaign swing, gears up to court Black vote

The former veep is moving forward and sees African Americans as a particular part of his strategy to win

Apr 26, 2019

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Democratic White House frontrunner Joe Biden is focusing on winning over the Black vote and is making strategic moves to do so, The Hill is reporting.

The former vice president and former U.S. senator hired Symone Sanders, a Black woman and former national press secretary for Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders‘ previous White House campaign, as a senior adviser and is consulting with Black lawmakers from Southern districts, The Hill reports. Biden formally announced this week that he is running in the 2020 race for president.

In his announcement video, he focused on the white supremacist marchers who paraded through Charlottesville, Va., in the summer of 2017, an incident that resulted in one woman’s death.

On Thursday, Biden logged endorsements from former U.S. Sen. Carol Mosely Braun, the Illinois Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, the Democrat from Louisiana who once headed the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Trump has been so destructive to minority communities, cutting government services and raising tuition,” Richmond told The Hill. “Voters have had enough of it. They want to win now and if they can win with a friend whose track record they know, it’s a win-win.”

Richmond has been connecting Biden with his fellow CBC members.

To be sure, Biden will have to work hard with two Black candidates in the race. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, so far is logging the highest poll numbers of all women who have entered the race. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, the Democrat from New Jersey, also is running.

“Biden could not have a deeper relationship (with the Black community) than Cory Booker; he couldn’t have a deeper relationship than Kamala Harris,” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., told The Hill.

She said Biden telephoned her in recent days but she did not call him back because she is not yet ready to endorse anyone.

Instead, Wilson told the news organization, she texted Biden: “I love you and respect you.”