Omar Rules Out Biden for 2020, Says He Won’t ‘Tackle Systematic Challenges’
Representative Ilhan Omar over the weekend rejected Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy, saying he is not the candidate the Democratic Party needs at this moment in time.
The Minnesota Democrat emphasized the party’s need for a more progressive nominee and suggested the former vice president wouldn’t elicit enthusiasm from the electorate during her remarks at the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum on Saturday.
America needs “a president who realizes we are not just fighting for one election, we are fighting for the very soul of our democracy and what society we want to become,” Omar said at the forum, hosted by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action.
“There are few people who fit into the kind of progress that we all want to see in this country,” Omar told The Guardian. “And I would say he is not one of them.
“I think it has been very clear to many of the people who have been creating the kind of movement that is exciting generations, that we want somebody who really has a plan that is going to tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have, and he doesn’t,” the congresswoman said.
Omar is a member of the group referred to as “the Squad,” four freshman congresswomen of color known for their decidedly progressive policies, many of which were promoted during Saturday’s event.
Biden did not attend the Iowa forum, unlike his rivals for the Democratic nomination, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. The latest poll results show Warren at 22 percent, outpacing Biden, who sits at 20 percent, for the first time since the primary began.
