Biden picks up first endorsement from Iowa congressional delegation

Former Vice President Joe Biden has picked up his first 2020 endorsement from a member of Iowa’s congressional delegation.

Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) told The Associated Press that she is supporting Biden’s White House bid, pointing to his experience, proposals on infrastructure and the economy and efforts to pass the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

The freshman lawmaker added that the Democratic Party needs a nominee like Biden who appeals to a variety of voters.

“We need somebody at the top who can lead from the White House, someone who’s willing to unite not just Democrats but the country,” Finkenauer said. “There are days where I swear Democrats and Republicans are speaking different languages, and there’s no translator. … (Biden) is the translator.”

Finkenauer is the first congressional representative from Iowa to endorse a presidential candidate, as the 2020 race picks up ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3. She will hit at least eight cities and towns with the former vice president in a five-day Iowa tour starting Thursday.

“It goes back to the uniting factor,” Finkenauer told the AP. “You can’t divide rural America and our cities. They do require different attention and different plans, but if rural America is forgotten, then our cities are also hurt, and vice versa. He’s understood that from the beginning.”

Biden campaigned with Finkenauer during the midterms in 2018, when she won a district that sided with President Trump in 2016.

Finkenauer and Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) are the only two members of Congress from early voting states that have endorsed Biden so far.

–Updated at 7:58 a.m.