‘Let’s take back this country,’ Joe Biden tells Texas crowd after gaining new support
Texas was in the presidential spotlight Monday night.
Former Vice President Joe Biden took to the stage at a honky-tonk in Dallas, on the eve of Super Tuesday, newly endorsed by former rivals Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke.
“Just a few days ago, the press and pundits declared this campaign dead,” Biden told a crowd of thousands gathered at Gilley’s nightclub. “But South Carolina had something to say about it. (On Tuesday), Texas … (and other super Tuesday states) will have a lot to say about it.”
“Every person who has been knocked down, counted out, … this is your campaign,” Biden said. “We need you and we are going to do this.”
Biden’s comments came two days after his South Carolina victory and on the eve of Super Tuesday, when voters in Texas and more than a dozen other states will head to the polls to weigh in on the presidential primary election.
Monday night, the endorsements from former opponents came through amid growing concerns by moderate Democrats that Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, could surge ahead in the race for delegates.
Some Democrats fear Sanders, a self-described socialist, is too liberal to help down ballot candidates in November. They believe Biden is the more moderate choice.
“March 3, 2020, I will be casting my ballot for Joe Biden,” O’Rourke told the crowd. “Let me tell you why.
“We need somebody who can beat Donald Trump,” he said. “In Joe Biden, we have that man.”
O’Rourke said he thought so highly of Biden and his wife, Jill, that he was going to “treat them to a world-class meal” after the rally.
“There’s a Whataburger half a mile from here,” O’Rourke joked.
Republicans were quick to weigh in on Biden’s Texas visit.
“Joe Biden’s failing campaign making the rounds in Texas is laughable,” Samantha Cotten, a spokeswoman for the Trump Victory campaign, said in a statement. “Biden’s radical agenda will destroy the economy, kill the oil and gas industry, and legalize border crossings without proper documentation.
“His vision for America will be rejected by Texans on Tuesday.”
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday in Texas.
Quest for delegates
After Saturday’s South Carolina victory, Biden gained new momentum, which some Democrats nicknamed “Joementum,” firmly establishing himself as an alternative to Sanders who leads in the delegate count.
Biden, who is in his third bid for the White House, hopes to claim as many as possible of the 261 delegates Texas has to offer Democratic presidential candidates. The bulk of those, 228, will be awarded Tuesday, 149 from the state Senate districts and 79 across the state.
Biden recently released endorsements by dozens of Democrats across the country who support his candidacy. His North Texas endorsements include those from U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth and state Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie.
Some supporters have said they believe Biden is the best candidate to beat Trump because he has the broadest base of support.
Donaldo Elias Elias, an 18-year-old from Fort Worth, was first in line for the rally, showing up more than four hours before the doors opened.
He said he was originally a Sanders supporter, but changed him mind when he “realized he’s not the strongest candidate to be at the top of the ticket against Donald Trump.”
In the past month, he changed his mind and became a Biden supporter.
“I think he can win Texas,” said Elias Elias, a student at Tarrant County College’s Trinity River Campus. “He has a better chance than Bernie has.”
Marcia Carter, a Coppell woman who was born and raised in Philadelphia, said she knows the character of Biden and his family.
She showed up to Monday’s rally to support him.
“Especially in this day and age, to me he is the best selection out of all the candidates,” Carter said. “He has the resume and character to be a president for all the citizens in the United States of America, not just a select few.
“I feel he will be far better than the person in office right now, who is not the right person to stay in the office of the president.”
Rally talk
A long line grew around Gilley’s, which has been the site of other presidential candidate rallies in recent years, hours before Monday night’s rally was scheduled to begin.
As the crowd of thousands waited for the rally to kick off, chants of “Let’s go, Joe” echoed through the club.
Before the rally, Buttigieg, who abruptly ended his campaign Sunday, endorsed Biden.
During the rally, Klobuchar — who ended her campaign earlier in the day — said that Biden had dignity and heart. And she formally announced her endorsement of the former vice president.
“It is time for Americans to join hands instead of pointing fingers, ... to turn back the division, hate,” she said while encouraging voters to support Biden. “We need to unite our party and our country.”
“Joe Biden has dedicated his life to fighting for people,” she said. “He can bring our country together.”
Biden spoke highly of his former rivals, stressing the need to elect a new president to remove Trump from the White House.
“He cannot stay,” Biden said of Trump. “There’s no decency.”
He said it’s time for Democrats to reclaim a majority in the U.S. Senate and the Texas House of Representatives.
And he took a few digs at Sanders.
“Most Americans don’t want the promise of a revolution,” he said, adding that he is a “Democrat, a proud Democrat, an Obama-Biden Democrat.”
But Democrats need to work together, to build a coalition, to find victory, Biden said.
“The days of Donald Trump’s divisiveness will soon be over,” he told the crowd. “We’re better than this.
“Get up, let’s take back this country.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 10:03 PM.
