Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) said in a new statement that Democratic senators who supported President Biden’s reelection campaign to the end were “deeply angered and hurt” by calls from Democrats for Biden to stop campaigning. interview With Robert Costa of CBS This Morning.
Coons, Biden’s closest ally in the Senate, said the weeks leading up to Biden’s decision had been difficult, with debate over Biden’s future dividing Democrats.
Costa said some Democrats felt “betrayed” by those calls, a point Coons did not dispute.
“It’s been an incredibly tough few weeks as people who feel deeply about this decision have spoken out, first privately and then publicly. In my final conversations with my campaign co-chairs and with fellow senators who, like me, are deeply committed to continuing the campaign with Joe Biden as the nominee, there has been a lot of anger and hurt,” Coons said in an interview.
“He really wanted a second term,” Coons said of Biden. “A lot of us were very excited about the prospect of another term.”
Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris has rapidly solidified her support and is almost certain to become the nominee in this fall’s presidential election.
Coons is one of hundreds of Democratic officeholders currently endorsing Harris.
