House Democrats’ campaign arm moves to defend its embattled chief, saying Joe Biden is ‘not a racist or an anti-Semite’
With the national party’s fundraising struggling and its national campaign chief facing allegations of sexual assault, Democratic leaders have been rushing to defend him and his legacy.
Party officials say Biden — the former vice president — is not a racist or an anti-Semite despite the growing number of people accusing him of those views.
He also didn’t mention in October that he was a member of the state’s Ku Klux Klan while serving in the South Carolina legislature in the 1980s.
And he was once accused of groping a woman’s breast in 1992 and was then accused of another unwelcome touch of her after she asked for his autograph in 2005.
But they’re fighting back with a new ad they hope will demonstrate voters believe Biden’s long-awaited presidential campaign is the right one to run in 2020.
This week, the Biden campaign is trying to capitalize on a new poll showing him leading the race in Iowa, where a crucial February caucus looms.
But campaign officials say they are not trying to distract voters, focusing instead on the issues that matter most to Democrats today.
The Biden campaign is running five new television ads, including one that shows people in Iowa and Michigan telling each other about Biden as a leader.
‘Not afraid’
In a second ad, Biden’s campaign is focusing on the candidate’s record and what he wants out of the White House. A narrator says Biden is “not afraid to make tough decisions.”
Here are the most recent comments about Biden, as of Saturday afternoon
The Biden campaign disputes that Biden assaulted a woman in the 1992 Senate race when he was a state senator. Biden’s office said his behavior with former state senator Sharon Coleman was “completely inappropriate.”
Biden said in a statement last year that the allegation was “completely false” and he’d known Coleman for years. “She was a dear friend in my life who has supported my campaign since he stepped into this race,” he said.
Speaking as Biden was wrapping up an event with veterans in