A liberal group that helps boost candidates like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y., to victory, slammed former Vice President Joe Biden after he announced his entry into the 2020 presidential race Thursday.
“The old guard of the Democratic Party failed to stop Trump, and they can’t be counted on to lead the fight against his divide-and-conquer politics today. The party needs new leadership with a bold vision capable of energizing voters in the Democratic base who stayed home in 2016,” Justice Democrats said in a statement.
“While we’re going to support the Democrat nominee, we can’t let a so-called ‘centrist’ like Joe Biden divide the Democratic Party and turn it into the party of ‘No, we can’t,’” the group said.
The statement was released after Biden declared early Thursday morning that he would be joining a wide field of 20 Democratic presidential candidates.
Biden released a video announcement centering his campaign on restoring the principles on which the country was founded.
The core values of this nation… our standing in the world… our very democracy…everything that has made America — America –is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. #Joe2020 https://t.co/jzaQbyTEz3
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2019
The Justice Democrats called Biden’s candidacy a compromise with President Trump and corporate America.
The group has worked to push the Democratic Party in a progressive direction, helping elect Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib D-Mich., in the 2018 midterm elections.
Waleed Shahid, the communications director for Justice Democrats, said in an interview with Politico in February, “There is going to be a war within the party. We are going to lean into it.”
