Joe Biden gets backing of Congressional Black Caucus PAC

‘His understanding on how to get things done and his ability to work and pull people together is needed now more than ever’

The Congressional Black Caucus PAC has endorsed Joe Biden for US president.

The announcement follows the endorsement of Mr Biden from 38 out of 54 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Democratic congressman for Georgia, John Lewis.

Civil rights leader, Mr Lewis, who is well known for his civil rights activism in the 1960s, endorsed the former vice president earlier in the month and urged him to choose a woman of colour as his running mate.

“It would be good to have a woman of colour” as the US vice president, Mr Lewis told reporters at the endorsement announcement.

The Political Action Committee is the separate campaign arm of the caucus, and in an interview with the Associated Press, its chairman, Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks, said that Mr Biden is the leader the US needs.

“There’s no question that Joe Biden is badly needed by this country,” he said. “His leadership, his experience, his understanding on how to get things done and his ability to work and pull people together is needed now more than ever.

“We need someone that is a healer and not a divider, and that’s Joe Biden.”​

The congressman noted: “There’s no question in my mind that there needs to be an agenda that pushes forward black America.”

He said Mr Biden is the leader to do that, as “he has a vision to bring us together and have an agenda of significant importance for the black community”.

Last month, in a poll conducted for the advocacy group BlackPAC, by Politico, more than half of black voters, in eight states, said they would be more enthusiastic or more likely to vote for Joe Biden if he picked a black woman as his running mate.

The poll concerned the key battleground states of Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

The research found that 38 per cent of black voters who already plan to vote for Mr Biden would be more enthusiastic about voting for him if he picked a black woman as his running mate.

Another 17 per cent per cent said that Mr Biden choosing a black woman as his running mate would make them more likely to vote for him.​