Many activist groups expected the former veep to crumble by now.
The progressive movement is kicking off 2020 with a full-scale, whack-a-Joe mobilization against the former vice president, marked by intensified attacks and protests designed to bloody Biden in advance of the Iowa caucuses.
The grassroots assault hit from a variety of angles, starting Monday when the Progressive Change Campaign Committee demanded Biden retract statements about sexism in politics. Hours later, the group Indivisible criticized him over his immigration plan. Then, activists aligned with the Sunrise Movement recently picketed him at a New York City fundraiser hosted by a billionaire.
While Biden has taken flak from the Democratic Party’s left flank for the past year, the effort marks the first time he’s been the subject of a sustained barrage from the left, amplifying recent back-to-back broadsides from two of Biden’s top opponents, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, over Social Security and bankruptcy legislation.
The shared offensive comes on the heels of Biden’s best fundraising quarter — he pulled in nearly $23 million — since entering the presidential race in April. And it follows recent polling that shows he remains the frontrunner in national primary polls and a top-tier contender in first-in-the-nation Iowa, which holds its caucus Feb. 3.
Many activist groups and rival campaigns had expected Biden — whose campaign once faced questions about its durability — to have crumbled by now.
At the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, co-founder Adam Green acknowledged that the former vice president’s standing has helped galvanize the stop Biden initiative. He said the group has a list of one million members to whom it’s promoting Warren and, now, criticizing Biden.
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Joe Biden is used to taking flak from the Democratic Party’s left flank for the past year, but this is the first time he’s been the subject of a sustained barrage from the left https://t.co/upXHvPM5Ux
— POLITICO (@politico) January 8, 2020
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