Democratic presidential candidate Eric Swalwell offered an early jab at front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Thursday night’s second presidential debate, calling his ideas “staler than Donald Trump’s”
“The American people see these issues today as issues of the future,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin on “Newsroom.” “We can’t have a candidate who has ideas that are staler than Donald Trump’s.”
Swalwell, who launched his presidential bid in April, hit Biden for his long career in Washington, offering himself as an alternative to the Democratic front-runner who can “offer a vision for the future.”
“I don’t think we can nominate a candidate who has been in government for longer than 20 years. I don’t think that’s going to work,” he said. “I think we need someone who’s going to offer a vision for the future, who lives and gets these issues on student debt, gun violence, health care cures, climate chaos.”
Swalwell added, “We can’t nibble around the edges any more, these are issues that will affect us. I’ll be a president that will have to live with the decisions I made.”
Since announcing his run for president in April, Biden has consistently polled above the rest of the crowded Democratic field, but he has come under fire in the weeks leading up to Thursday’s debate for comments about his work with segregationist senators.
After Wednesday’s debate featuring half of the Democratic field, Thursday’s debate will see Biden up against candidates offering radically different visions than his own such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders along with campaign breakout South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris.
