Joe Biden’s presidential campaign broke its silence on a policy proposal that’s gained traction among far-left activists and some Democratic officeholders since the death of George Floyd to defund local police departments.
For days, while protesters rallied behind the “defund the police” slogan and Minneapolis City Council members pledged to abolish the municipality’s law enforcement, Biden dodged the issue, trying to focus on what he called healing America’s racial wounds.
On Monday, however, his campaign released a statement firmly breaking with the activists in his party.
“As his criminal justice proposal made clear months ago, Vice President Biden does not believe that police should be defunded. He hears and shares the deep grief and frustration of those calling out for change and is driven to ensure that justice is done and that we put a stop to this terrible pain,” said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee who was vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009-17 after spending 36 years as a Delaware senator.
“Biden supports the urgent need for reform, including funding for public schools, summer programs, and mental-health and substance-abuse treatment separate from funding for policing, so that officers can focus on the job of policing,” Bates said.
The statement came nearly immediately after President Trump’s reelection campaign held a press call on “the Left’s radical proposals to defund the police.” In that call, the campaign alleged that Biden’s silence on the issue was a tacit endorsement of the policy.
Since Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in police custody in May, the “defund the police” movement has gained serious traction with members of the Democratic base. Several high-profile Democrats who have committed to voting for Biden in November, such as Rep. Ilhan Omar, have supported disbanding the police in Minneapolis.
The Black Lives Matter movement, of which Biden counts himself an ally, recently circulated a petition calling for a national “defunding of [the] police.” One of Biden’s campaign co-chairs, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, tried calming riots last week by saying he was committed to making cuts to the Los Angeles Police Department’s $150 million budget.
On Monday, Biden traveled to Houston, Texas, to meet with the Floyd family.
