Former United States Vice President Joe Biden made a spectacular comeback this week when he swept to victory on Super Tuesday, the biggest event in the 2020 election calendar so far.
Super Tuesday is the day when most voters go to the polls to pick which Democrat they want to take on President Donald Trump in November’s presidential election. Fourteen states, including the most populous – California and Texas – take part.
Biden’s campaign to become the Democratic party nominee was on life support before Super Tuesday, lagging behind 78-year-old Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
But on the eve of polling day, presidential hopefuls Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both dropped out of the race and announced they were backing Biden. The 77-year-old went on to surge at the polls and won a whopping 10 of the 14 states.
Lindy Li, a member of Biden’s outreach team, described his comeback as “incredible” and said she was inspired by Biden and his “goodness”.
“We haven’t seen this sort of comeback in a very long time. It’s truly incredible, and I think the American people are speaking and they are saying we don’t want a candidate whose staff and supporters are rife with toxic individuals,” Li said.
But Linda Sarsour, national surrogate for the Sanders campaign, says Biden is the wrong candidate to take on Donald Trump in November.
“I think he has a horrible record. He took us into a despicable war in Iraq and voted for the war in Iraq. He didn’t just vote for the Crime Bill, he championed the Crime Bill, which is why we have inflated incarceration of black and brown people across the country,” Sarsour said.
But Li says Biden has some ambitious proposals, citing his plans to take on climate change and tough stance on gun control.
“He is very, very aggressive on gun violence. Gun violence is, for me, an existential threat and I know so many voters in America feel the same way. Joe Biden is someone who helped pass the assault weapons ban, which has been shown to reduce deaths by gun violence,” Li said.
Sarsour says she doesn’t want to “just defeat Donald Trump”.
“I’m tired of the status quo; I’m tired of maintaining what we have. I want healthcare. Joe Biden, right now, hasn’t told me what his message [is] – what is he fighting for? What are his top policy issues other than defeating Donald Trump?”
In this week’s Arena, Linda Sarsour and Lindy Li debate who is the best candidate to beat US President Donald Trump.
