Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney is taking jabs at the competition.
First to declare but bottoming out in the polls, Delaney said the other candidates for the Democratic nomination are rooting their campaigns on unrealistic policies and talking points.
“You have to put forward ideas that make sense,” the the former Maryland representative told reporters Thursday. Delaney is set to begin a two-day tour of his home state as he looks to cross the 65,000-donor threshold and participate in the first presidential debate.
Delaney, who was the first announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination back in 2017, charged that many of the other 2020 presidential candidates are “running on things that aren’t real solutions.” He argued that policy proposals such as the non-binding resolution on climate change, the Green New Deal, pose no real political feasibility.
“If you say the way I’m going to address climate change is by tying it to universal basic income, or by tying it to universal healthcare, you’re basically saying you’re not going to do anything on climate change,” Delaney said.
The ambitious Green New Deal, introduced by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also included massive government-run welfare programs, including universal basic income programs and property retrofitting funding.
“Democrats are going to realize that this election in 2020 should not be about kind of throwing the whole model of the country out of the window and starting from scratch. That feels like a very tough race to win,” Delaney said.
According to the latest polling averages, Delaney floats between 0 to 1 percent.
[Also read: Pete Buttigieg is the 2020 Democrat who could work with Republicans]
