Hillary Clinton, who was defeated by President Donald Trump in 2016, has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden to challenge him in November in a much-changed environment.
“I want to add my voice to the many who have endorsed you to be our president,” Clinton told him on Tuesday.
Clinton was among the last holdouts among Democratic Party leaders in endorsing Biden, the only major candidate left standing in the party race for the nomination to run in the presidential election this year.
By inserting herself into the race for the Democratic Party nomination with the backing of the party establishment, the former secretary of state had blocked Biden’s chances of running in 2016 after having served two terms as vice president.
Now she said, “I wish he were president right now but I can’t wait until he is — if all of us do our part to support the kind of person that we want back in the White House.”
Biden responded, “I really appreciate your friendship. What a, just a wonderful personal endorsement.”
They spoke from their homes at a virtual town hall meeting on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on women during which Clinton made the endorsement.
Before the meeting, Clinton tweeted cryptically, “A little hint about who the surprise guest will be for @JoeBiden’s 3pm ET (US East Time) town hall today: (She’s excited.)”
Criticising Trump, she said, “Out of this terrible tragedy of the pandemic and the loss of life and loss of income and everything else that we’re suffering through, this is a moment of reckoning,”
Former President Barack Obama endorsed Biden, who was his vice president, on April 14.
Biden has received the endorsements of all the major challengers in the race for the Democratic Party nomination, who have all dropped out.
When the last rival standing, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign and endorsed him on April 8, Biden sealed his nomination with only a formal endorsement at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Recognising this fact, the New York State Elections Board cancelled the state’s primary scheduled for June.
Although he has endorsed Biden, Sanders stays on the ballot in the intra-party elections and wants to use his showing as a bargaining chip in drafting the party’s election manifesto.
Sanders campaign adviser Jeff Weaver called the cancellation, an “outrage, a blow to American democracy, and must be overturned.”
