SELMA, Alabama — Joe Biden nabbed an endorsement from Selma Mayor Darrio Melton as 2020 candidates gathered in the city to mark a civil rights anniversary and vie for black votes ahead of Super Tuesday.
“Joe understands the issues families in Selma and communities across the country face,” Melton said in a statement. “He is uniquely qualified to unite our country in this moment, and I look forward to the day we can call him our president.”
Biden’s campaign said Melton’s endorsement shows growing enthusiasm for the former vice president among black voters and within Alabama, a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 1976 when Jimmy Carter won the White House. Biden has sought to make the case that he is the only candidate who can be competitive against President Trump in historically red states.
Alabama is so far the only state predicted to be an outright victory for Biden on Super Tuesday, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight. His chances of winning Alabama are likely bolstered by the big victory in South Carolina on Saturday.
Biden also has the backing of Sen. Doug Jones and Rep. Terri Sewell, an influential member of the Black Congressional Caucus with ties to Obamaworld, as well as that of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who has connections to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The Alabama Democratic Conference, the state’s largest black caucus, endorsed billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who has blanketed the airwaves. As well as ads, Bloomberg has 30 campaign staff across four field offices, a big investment for a Democrat in a red state.
But Bloomberg received a cold welcome while giving remarks at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A group of protesters turned their backs on the former New York City mayor, who faces challenges with black voters over his controversial stop-and-frisk policy.
Bloomberg and Biden were among a handful of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who gathered in Selma, where black protesters were once beaten by white police while marching for the right to vote.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg also made quick trips to Alabama before heading on to other Super Tuesday states.
