Biden defends performance in Iowa, cites support from African Americans

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday defended his performance in the Iowa caucuses, saying he’s the only Democrat in the 2020 presidential primary who can garner enough support from African Americans to beat President Trump.

“No one who has come in below second in Iowa and New Hampshire has ever won the nomination,” host George Stephanopoulos reminded Biden on ABC’s “This Week.”

“No one has ever won the nomination without being able to get overwhelming support from the African-American community either,” Biden responded “So far, no one’s doing that but me.”

.@GStephanopoulos: “No one has come in below second in Iowa and New Hampshire has ever won the nomination.”

Joe Biden: “No has ever won the nomination without being able to get overwhelming support from the African American community either.” https://t.co/nPQ57Pvs7t pic.twitter.com/CavOkeFC6A

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 9, 2020

{mosads}Biden came in a distant fourth in last week’s Iowa caucuses, garnering 15.8 percent of delegates and trailing former Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who were in a dead heat for first place with all precincts counted.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished in third place.

Biden has also acknowledged that he is unlikely to win New Hampshire. But he is counting South Carolina, the first primary state with a sizeable black community to prove he can win over a coalition reflective of the Democratic Party as a whole.

“The thing that changes this election is that everybody in the Democratic Party is united on one thing, defeating Donald Trump. In order to do that everybody knows you’ve got to bring out the black vote and the brown vote. You’ve got to be able to do it,” Biden said on Sunday.