AOC urges people to support Joe Biden: “The matter is closed”

While nearly a dozen elected officialthe New York Times Editorial boardAnd rich And Sponsors Connected called Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday that she fully supports the president—and that people need to get over the idea that he will be replaced and focus on defeating him. Donald Trump.

Speaking outside the Capitol, the New York lawmaker said she had spoken “extensively” with Biden and he had “made it clear… that he is in this race. The issue is closed… Joe Biden is our nominee. He is in this race and I support him.”

“I think the most important thing right now is that we focus on what it takes to win in November because he’s running against Donald Trump, a man with 34 felony convictions,” she added. [a man who] has committed 34 felonies, and no Republican is asking Donald Trump not to be nominated. I am here to win for democracy, I am here to win in November, and it is critically important that what the president, I believe…needs to do…to make sure we win in November, and that is to make sure we…increase our commitment to the issues that are critically important to working people across this country.”

AOC said the Biden team needs to focus on “How do we expand Medicare? How do we expand Social Security? How do we provide relief for people’s rent and mortgages? And if we can do that, and continue our work on student loans, secure a ceasefire, and put those dollars back into public policy, that’s how we win in November. That’s what I’m committed to.”

Also on Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders speak by CNN Kaitlan Collins that he believes Biden is qualified to be president and blames the media for turning the election into a “beauty contest.”

“I’ll just say this: What the media does to a large extent is turn politics into a beauty pageant, into a Grammy contest,” Sanders said. “You’re voting for someone on policy. Who’s going to improve your life? Do you want someone who thinks climate change is a hoax, who takes away women’s control over their bodies, who has appointed extremely anti-union leaders to his administration, which is what Trump has done?” He added that if the race is about policy and “the contrast between what Biden stands for and what Trump stands for,” then “Biden will do just fine.”

On Tuesday, Time reported that black Democratic women, who have long been the party’s most reliable voting bloc, remain loyal to Biden. Stefanie Brown James, “All the airwaves attention that Democrats are giving to this issue and not trying to persuade and motivate voters is just a complete distraction,” a co-founder of Collective PAC, which supports black candidates for public office, told the outlet. “I don’t think it’s helpful right now.”

Of course, others have a different view and believe that supporting Biden is a surefire way to lose in November. But there doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus among those who believe the president needs to step down when it comes to who should replace him. While some say Kamala Harris should be the obvious nomineeothers have suggested hold a primary election The Democratic National Convention is just six weeks away.

Meanwhile, there is the small matter of Biden saying he will not drop out of the race. Speaking in Wisconsin last week, he declared, “I will not let a 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work. I will stay in the race and I will defeat Donald Trump.”