Former Vice President Joe Biden expanded his lead in congressional endorsements Thursday, landing the backing of second-term Rep. Al Lawson of Florida.
“They don’t make ‘em like Joe anymore,” Lawson said in a statement obtained by POLITICO. “We have an opportunity now to meet head on the greatest challenges of our time, and ensure our best days still lie ahead of us and that is why I am endorsing him to be the next president of the United States.”
Lawson said Biden “has a long history of doing what’s right and not what’s easy to advance the causes of America’s working families.”
Lawson is the latest in a string of Democrats to line up behind Biden in Florida, which will be a key battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.
He cited Biden’s “proven track record of bringing people together and delivering results” on issues ranging from health care and the environment to civil rights and women’s rights.
“America is at a crossroads,” Lawson wrote, “and it is vital that we elect a leader who will restore the soul of this country, put us back on a path of prosperity and make certain we are respected on the world stage. I have no doubt that Vice President Biden is that leader.”
A Lawson spokesman said the congressman “has always had a great deal of respect and admiration for” Biden, noting the two campaigned together for Hillary Clinton in 2016 at the historically black university Florida A&M. Biden supported Lawson’s congressional bid that year.
Biden entered the crowded Democratic presidential primary in April as the putative front-runner. He has dominated national polling, leading second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by double digits, and is also atop early state polls.
Lawson, a former professional basketball player and assistant basketball coach at Florida State, is Biden’s 15th endorsement from a current member of Congress — and the fifth from the Congressional Black Caucus.
“As Biden is fond of saying, all politics is personal,” said a Biden campaign aide. “The product of his career in elected office is a long list of deep relationships. He is not one to merely check the box when he gets on the phone. He‘s going to have a real, substantive conversation.”
Though CBC members Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey launched their White House bids well before Biden, it’s the former vice president and six-term senator who has the most endorsements within the 55-member group. Several of its members, however, have warmed up to the prospect of a Biden-Harris ticket to take on President Donald Trump next year.
Former CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who has also endorsed Biden, could play a formal role in his campaign, possibly as co-chair.