Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) threw her support behind former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday, a major endorsement for the leading Democratic candidate in the race.
Finkenauer is the first member of Congress from Iowa to throw her weight behind a candidate, and it’s a big win for Biden.
Finkenauer is a 31-year-old first-term House member who won big as a woman in a district President Donald Trump carried in 2016. She is planning to campaign with Biden this weekend as the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses quickly approach.
“We need somebody at the top who can lead from the White House, someone who’s willing to unite not just Democrats but the country,” Finkenauer told The Associated Press. “There are days where I swear Democrats and Republicans are speaking different languages, and there’s no translator. … [Biden] is the translator.”
BREAKING: Joe Biden landed a high profile endorsement Thursday as Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Iowa announced she's backing his campaign. Finkenauer is the first member of Iowa's congressional delegation to endorse a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary.https://t.co/RK1DTaV61n
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) January 2, 2020
Finkenauer was careful to note that her endorsement was not meant as a rejection of other candidates, telling The Associated Press she’s “not going to speak to what’s going to win votes and what’s not.” But the weight of her endorsement is not going unnoticed.
She is planning to travel to 10 counties over five days with the Biden campaign, and as a young congresswoman, she’s expected to help build a bridge to younger voters that Biden has so far struggled to connect with.
Citing Biden’s track record on infrastructure and health care, Finkenauer stressed that he’s able to connect with voters on “big picture” issues and understands “what it means around the kitchen tables across the country.”
“It goes back to the uniting factor,” Finkenauer told The Associated Press. “You can’t divide rural America and our cities. They do require different attention and different plans, but if rural America is forgotten, then our cities are also hurt, and vice versa. He’s understood that from the beginning.”