Biden Says November Election Can’t Be Delayed: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden said unequivocally Tuesday the November election couldn’t be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We cannot delay or postpone a constitutionally required election,” Biden said in an interview on NBC’s “Today.”

Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, repeated his calls for states to plan ahead for remote voting options, including expanding vote by mail. The former vice president said he hoped people can vote in person, but it would “depend on the state of play.”

“We’re going to have to conduct the election on November 3,” he said.

Biden’s comments come as voters in Wisconsin stood in line to vote in the state’s primary Tuesday after the Republican-controlled legislature refused the governor’s request to delay in-person voting amid a stay-at-home order.

John Lewis, Civil Rights Icon, Endorses Biden (5:30 a.m.)

Representative John Lewis of Georgia, an icon of the Civil Rights movement, endorsed Joe Biden on Tuesday, becoming the latest Democrat to support the former vice president as he tries to wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination.

Lewis’ endorsement comes as Biden has amassed a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates over his only remaining competitor, Senator Bernie Sanders. Biden is looking to extend that lead Tuesday when Wisconsin holds its primary contest.

Lewis has represented Georgia in Congress for more than 30 years, after serving as one of the leaders of the American civil rights movement. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and worked with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the March on Washington in 1963.

“I have stared down the deepest, and darkest forces in this nation,” Lewis said in a statement. “Vice President Joe Biden and I both believe that we are in a fight to redeem the soul of America. I know Joe Biden as a man of character and dignity - A man who can not, and will not rest when he sees injustice in our American home.”

In December, Lewis, 80, announced he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, but last month, he made a surprise appearance in Selma, Alabama, joining Biden and many other Democratic presidential candidates, to mark the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when peaceful marchers were attacked by the police. Lewis himself was beaten and badly injured.

“We must go out and vote like we never, ever voted before,” Lewis said at the commemoration.

Georgia’s Democratic primary was initially scheduled for March 24, but it was pushed back to May 19 because of the coronavirus pandemic. -- Tyler Pager

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