Back-to-back departures from 2020 race could boost Biden
Posted March 7, 2019 7:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden isn’t a presidential candidate yet, but two of his key Democratic rivals are already getting out of the way, giving the former vice-president a potential boost.
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said Thursday he wouldn’t run for president, soon after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would also sit out 2020.
Brown has deep connections to blue-collar voters in the Midwest while Bloomberg saw an appeal to centrists uncomfortable with the party’s move to the left. But taken together, their decision to skip 2020 could heighten Biden’s appeal to voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2016.
Bloomberg’s aides said his path to the nomination was particularly narrow if Biden decided to run. Brown, in contrast, denied that Biden had any effect on his choice.
Elana Schor, The Associated Press
