Biden rallies with John Kerry in early primary states

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) hit the campaign trail with a familiar face this weekend as he seeks the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination: former Secretary of State John Kerry (D), the party’s 2004 nominee.

Bloomberg News reported Sunday that Kerry, who served in the Obama administration alongside Biden, joined the Democratic frontrunner at his events in Iowa and New Hampshire, where Biden is hoping to ward off surging challengers.{mosads}

“In November of that year, we turned New Hampshire blue again. Carried Michigan, carried Wisconsin, carried Pennsylvania. We came within one state” of defeating former President Bush in 2004, Kerry told a Nashua crowd on Sunday, according to Bloomberg. “I know that Joe Biden is the person who can beat Donald Trump and bring this country back together.”

“I know what Joe Biden’s relationship is to the people that make a difference in those states,” the former secretary added to reporters after the event. “And I think that they like him. They trust him. They’ve seen him fight for these issues for a long time. And I think when the race comes down to Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, there’s just a huge monumental difference between the two of them.”

During his comments to reporters, Kerry also touched on the attacks aimed at Biden by the Trump campaign surrounding Hunter Biden, the former vice president’s son, and his Ukrainian business dealings, which Kerry likened to attacks on his military record from Republicans during the 2004 presidential campaign.

“This is not a new strategy. They did it with me, about my military record. It’s called create doubt,” Kerry told reporters, according to Bloomberg. “And that is precisely what they’re trying to do with Joe Biden,” he added. “That’s absolutely what they’re doing with Ukraine.”

Kerry made his official endorsement of Biden in a press release issued by the campaign on Thursday, saying in a statement that he’d “never before seen the world more in need of someone who on day one can begin the incredibly hard work of putting back together the world Donald Trump has smashed apart.”

Biden has remained a strong frontrunner in most national polling but has battled for dominance in early primary states with other top Democratic challengers including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).