Despite being told by the New York Times today to “pass the torch to a new generation of political leaders” when the newspaper endorsed Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) for president, Joe Biden is still the 2020 candidate with the most valuable endorsements from political peers. This is according to an analysis by website FiveThirtyEight. According to the source, which assigns points to endorsements by different types of politicians and values governors ahead of senators, past nominees, representatives and mayors, Biden collected most endorsement points by a large margin. He did so mainly in Congress, but also has three governors and four big city mayors endorsing him.
Competitor Warren collected the second-most points, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), whose supporters took to Twitter today to comment on the Times’ snub of the candidate.
It comes as no surprise that former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who only entered the race in November and has fewer endorsements, collected half of his endorsements from current mayors – like those of Memphis and San Jose. The only candidate with an endorsement from a former president or vice president to-date is Amy Klobuchar, who was endorsed by Walter Mondale. The Minnesotan served as vice president under Jimmy Carter.
The New York Times referral to a “new generation” might apply to Klobuchar but can only be understood figuratively in the case of Warren – the presidential contender is 71, while Biden is 77 years old.
