BOSTON (WHDH) - Rep. Jake Auchincloss shared his reaction Sunday after President Joe Biden ended his 2024 reelection campaign, praising Biden and previewing a potential general election matchup between Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“She prosecuted sex predators and he is a sex predator,” Auchincloss told 7NEWS. “So, I think that’s going to be a pretty strong contrast.”
Biden announced his decision to step aside after weeks of pressure following his debate against Trump last month. Biden soon endorsed Harris to replace him atop the Democratic presidential ticket.
Auchincloss, a Democrat who represents Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District, said he also supports Harris.
“That’s not exclusive to having an open and transparent process, though,” he said. “I think Kamala Harris will earn and win this nomination because she’s a career prosecutor who is well positioned to take on a convicted felon.”
Harris served as the District Attorney of San Francisco before becoming the Attorney General of California in 2010. She won her way into the senate in 2016 and joined Biden as his running mate in 2020 months after she suspended her own presidential campaign.
Auchincloss said Harris “stands for the rule of law at a time when the Republican party is torpedoing border security legislation, trying to surge weapons of war onto our streets and in our schools and is inciting insurrection and tearing up the Constitution.”
“She is the right woman for the moment,” he said.
Though Biden will no longer face Trump in this year’s election, Auchincloss continued to draw contrast between the president and Trump.
“Joe Biden is ceding power because it’s in the best interest of the United States,” he said. “Trump, by contrast, clung to power, incited an insurrection, caused officers of the law to lose their lives in the line of duty because he refused to put the interests of the United States above his own ego.”
“Seventy percent of Americans said ‘We want a change at the top of both tickets,’” Auchincloss said. “Democrats responded. We’re passing the torch to the next generation. Republicans have a mosh pit on top of a human hand grenade.”
While calls for Biden to step aside mounted in recent weeks, some criticized the effort, saying a change so late in the nominating process would subvert the will of Democratic primary voters who cast their ballots earlier this year.
Asked about those criticisms, Auchincloss responded.
“Fourteen million voters chose the Biden-Harris ticket to be the nominee for the Democratic party with the understanding that if Joe Biden stepped aside, Kamala Harris would be there,” he said. “And that’s exactly what’s happening.”
“She is going to be able to draw the kind of strong and sharp contrast that unfortunately President Biden was not able to in the most recent debate,” Auchincloss said.
Asked if he thinks Harris can unite the Democratic party ahead of the fast approaching election, Auchincloss responded simply — “Yes.”
Harris said she plans to “earn and win” the presidential nomination.
Harris will need to secure support from Democratic National Convention delegates in order to win the nomination. Though other potential candidates were floated before and after Biden’s announcement, Harris quickly won endorsements from other key figures in her party, including several senators, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
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