De Blasio hits Biden on crime bill: ‘A huge mistake’

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), who is running for president, took aim Sunday at the field’s front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, over his support for the 1994 crime bill.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” de Blasio called Biden’s work on the bill “a huge mistake.”

{mosads}“That crime bill was one of the foundations of mass incarceration and a very painful era in our nation’s history,” he said. “[Biden] and anyone else has to be accountable for every vote they take and what’s on their record. And I think that was a huge mistake.”

De Blasio added that the crime bill and other federal policies “were a big part of why untold thousands of people and families had their lives entirely disrupted and in many ways destroyed.”

“We’ve got to break out of that, and anyone responsible has to be accountable,” he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on the 1994 crime bill: “That crime bill was one of the foundations of mass incarceration … The [former] Vice President and anyone else has to be accountable for every vote they take … I think that was a huge mistake” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/APqOXjtSP7

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 26, 2019

His comments fell in line with those from fellow 2020 contender Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who said earlier this month that the bill contributed to mass incarceration in the country.

Biden has defended his efforts to pass the controversial bill, saying it helped him take on the National Rifle Association.

De Blasio so far has not emerged as a significant challenger for the Democratic nomination.

A recent poll showed Biden as the only Democratic presidential candidate with a clear positive favorability rating, while the same poll found de Blasio to be the candidate with the worst favorability rating, underwater by 37 points.

Hitting Biden on the crime bill gives the New York mayor a chance to tout his work on his city’s criminal justice system. On Sunday he said New York had reduced the jail population by about 30 percent and is planning to close Rikers Island.

“We are ending the era of mass incarceration in New York City,” he said.

The New York City mayor dismissed his low favorability ratings, which have dogged the early days of his campaign and prompted CNN’s Dana Bash to ask if he has a “likability problem.”

De Blasio said he had overcome such polls to win two elections as New York’s major.

“I found this with polls over and over again,” he said. “If I believed the polls and listened to the polls in all my other elections, I might just have stayed home.”

2020 presidential candidate Bill de Blasio responds to his low favorability ratings: “I found this with polls over and over again. If I believed the polls and listened to the polls in all my other elections, I might just have stayed home” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/pQgSIQzAOP

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 26, 2019