Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary.
“President Donald Trump has done unspeakable damage to our country, our institutions and the rule of law. Democrats need a candidate who can assemble the largest, most diverse coalition possible to defeat Trump and lead our country following the trauma of Trump’s presidency,” Reid said in a statement. “That candidate is Joe Biden.”
Reid and Biden worked closely in Washington, first during a more than two-decade overlap in the Senate and then during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president and Reid was Senate majority leader.
Reid had stayed neutral in his endorsements up until now, but his announcement comes amid growing public support from establishment Democrats for Biden.
“Joe Biden’s strength of character and deep experience stand in the starkest contrast to Trump’s amorality, corruption and utter incompetence,” Reid said, calling Biden “a much-needed stabilizing force following Trump’s disastrous term, offering a positive and progressive alternative to Trump’s dark vision of racism, xenophobia and policies built on cruelty and exclusion.”
Reid said in his statement that he has the “deepest respect and admiration for the remaining candidates,” calling them “among the brightest leaders in our party.”
“Our party was fortunate to have a tremendous field of talented candidates this year, many of whom are my close friends,” the former senator said.
His endorsement comes immediately after Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced she was dropping her 2020 presidential bid and is reportedly set to endorse Biden at an event in Dallas on Monday night. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race the day before, leaving Biden as the most prominent moderate in the race ahead of Super Tuesday.
Reid’s home state, which has high Latinx and union populations and was the third early-voting state, overwhelmingly went to Sanders. South Carolina, which has many Black voters, overwhelmingly went to Biden in its primary on Saturday.
Sanders’ campaign manger, Faiz Shakir, called Reid’s decision to endorse Biden “disappointing.”
“I’ll forever have respect and love for Senator Reid. But I’m old enough to remember when he thought Biden’s ideas were worth of being put in a fireplace,” Shakir tweeted. He linked to a HuffPost article from 2013 about Reid tossing into his fireplace a list of concessions from then-President Barack Obama’s administration during fiscal cliff negotiations.