Mo Elleithee says Joe Biden's lead with black voters reflects their 'comfort level' with the candidate
Former Vice President Joe Biden provides minority voters with a sense of security, says Fox News contributor Mo Elleithee, former DNC communications director.
Joe Biden leads the 2020 Democratic field among non-white primary voters due in part to their "comfort level" with the former vice president, according to a former Democratic National Committee official.
Mo Elleithee, a former DNC communications director, said Monday on "The Daily Briefing" that "it makes sense" that the former vice president is leading the field - with 38 percent support among non-white Democratic primary voters.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is running as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential race, trails Biden with 14 percent support among that group, host Dana Perino said.
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"It makes sense that Biden and Bernie are the two leaders right now since they are the two that are probably the best well-known, among all voters generally, but especially with minority voters," Elleithee said.
Elleithee added Biden's record on civil rights and his eight years serving with President Barack Obama were beneficial as well, saying that black voters "know Biden's track record" and that "he's been there for them time and time again."
"What you're seeing now is just a validation of a comfort level," he said.
"Biden is the guy who gives them a sense of security and comfort, and that he would be a champion for them probably more than anyone else right now," he said.
However, Elleithee added that Biden's current standing atop the field doesn't mean that another candidate can't "chip away" at his lead with minority voters.
Elleithee said that President Trump will try to reach out to the black community, but that Biden put "down a marker" early in his campaign when he invoked the 2017 unrest in Charlottesville, Va.
“Give me a break. Enough’s enough, man. It’s nonsense. The very rally was advertised, advertised, as a white supremacist rally. Anti-Semitic chants were clear. Hatred was on the march and he knew it,” Biden said in April in response to how President Trump reacted to the situation.
"Biden is trying to speak to something deeper," Elleithee said. "I think he is laying down a marker particularly with black voters that, whatever [Trump] says, remember, he continues to try to divide us."
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