Deval Patrick throws his support behind Joe Biden’s campaign
"Joe knows that the times and challenges before us demand new ideas and bold actions. But he also knows that change that lasts will require us to turn to each other rather than on each other."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren may not immediately be taking sides in the Democratic primary race. But another former 2020 candidate from Massachusetts did on Friday.
Deval Patrick announced that he is endorsing Joe Biden in what has shaped up to be a two-way race between the former vice president and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“This is a moment of profound consequence in America,” Patrick said. “At a time when our democracy is at risk, our economy is not working for many Americans, and our role in the world is unsteady, America needs a unifying and experienced leader, who can and wants to make life better for everyone everywhere. Joe Biden is that leader.”
The former Massachusetts governor, who made a short-lived 2020 bid for the Democratic nomination himself, joins a list of more than 100 leaders in the Bay State endorsing Biden’s campaign, including John Kerry, Rep. Seth Moulton (who also briefly ran for president last year), and Rep. Stephen Lynch. In a lengthy statement, Patrick cited his work as governor with President Barack Obama’s administration and said Biden was his “go-to contact on stimulus spending” in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis — spending which he said helped Massachusetts improve its schools. Patrick also said the Obama administration’s relationships with foreign leaders “paved a smoother way for our own state-level trade missions on behalf of business leaders, workers and educators.”
However, Patrick said his history with Biden dated back even further to when he was a civil rights lawyer and Biden was the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“When Black churches and synagogues were set on fire across the South in the 1990s, and I was tasked by President Clinton to co-chair the federal Church Arson Task Force to investigate and prosecute those attacks, Joe promptly and effectively moved legislation through the Senate to provide emergency funding for our work,” Patrick said. “I worked with him and his team on judicial appointments when I was a staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I have known him to be a champion for vulnerable and marginalized Americans for a long time.”
Patrick’s statement did not mention — or even allude — to Sanders. But during his own 2020 campaign, the former governor sharply contrasted himself with Sanders, whom he argued did not have a record of accomplishments to back up transformative proposals like Medicare-for-All and cancelling student debt. At the same, Patrick was critical of Biden’s apparent appeal to “nostalgia” and said he expected the 77-year-old to be “crisper.”
Patrick had also suggested the former vice president’s support was “soft.” But after a decisive win in South Carolina, Biden’s two more moderate rivals dropped out of the race to endorse him (along with a wave of other Democratic establishment figures), fueling a resurgent Super Tuesday showing.
After campaigning as a more moderate candidate himself, Patrick espoused Biden’s decency and willingness to compromise.
“Joe knows that the times and challenges before us demand new ideas and bold actions,” he said. “But he also knows that change that lasts will require us to turn to each other rather than on each other, and that we will have to model a politics that says we don’t have to agree on everything before we work together on anything.”
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