Joe Biden told donors in California he will not accept being branded “the old guy” following a Democratic debate where his age and opposition to past interracial school busing became issues.
Biden, 76, spoke at a Silicon Valley fundraiser where tickets ranged from $250 to $2,800, saying, “I refuse to accept, ‘He’s the old guy.’ I refuse to accept the status quo.”
The former vice president would be the oldest person elected president. At the debate Thursday, Rep. Eric Swalwell, 38, urged Biden to “pass the torch,” while Sen. Kamala Harris blasted his opposition to federally mandated busing in the 1970s.
The clash with Harris in particular bruised the front-runner and was among the top stories from Biden’s 2020 debate debut.
Biden’s pushback on age follows Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders declaring questions such questions “ageism.” Sanders, who runs second to Biden in most polls, is 77. President Trump is 73 and has called himself a “young, vibrant man” in comparison.
While addressing donors Saturday, Biden obliquely defended his 1970s opposition to federally mandated interracial busing to desegregate schools, casting himself instead as a champion of the civil rights era after moving to Delaware as a child.
“I moved to a state where there was still an ongoing, real, genuine struggle on segregation and rights related to the African-American community,” Biden said, according to a pool report. “That’s how I got involved as a kid in politics, and that’s how I got involved as a public defender.”
At the debate, Biden said he supported local choice over busing children farther distances to desegregate schools. “What I opposed was busing ordered by the Department of Education,” he said.
Harris fired back, saying “there was a failure of states to integrate.”
