Nevada Rep. Dina Titus backs Joe Biden for president

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden received a boost in his quest to win the Democratic presidential nomination with an endorsement Monday from a key lawmaker in the crucial early caucus state of Nevada.

Rep. Dina Titus, the dean of the Nevada congressional delegation, threw her endorsement to Biden, who is in a dogfight with Democratic hopefuls Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and others batting for delegates in Nevada’s “First in the West” presidential caucus.

Titus said Biden has been on the forefront of the gun violence issue, fighting violence against women and is respected among foreign leaders.

“I think you are the right person at the right time,” Titus told Nevada reporters on a conference call with Biden.

Biden said he was grateful to have the endorsement of Titus and said, “Nevada is obviously a really critical state” for anyone seeking the Democratic nomination.

“We are going to need help to win the Nevada caucus,” Biden said. “We are going to fight tooth and nail to make sure Donald Trump is a one-term president.”

The president is currently the focus of an impeachment inquiry by the House for asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch an investigation into Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas company while the senior Biden served as vice president.

State Department officials have testified that $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was withheld by the Trump administration as the president sought the investigation into Biden, prompting the House impeachment investigation into an alleged quid pro quo. But the military aid was released after Trump’s call with Zelenskiy came to light, and no investigation was launched by Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly denied asking for an investigation in exchange for the aid.

Although the House has dismissed calls from Trump and Republican lawmakers for Hunter Biden to testify before impeachment investigators, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he will investigate the claims.

Biden said Graham’s announcement was an “enormous disappointment.”

“The president is trying to get Lindsey to do what he couldn’t get the Ukrainian president to do,” Biden said on the conference call.

Biden said Trump is risking impeachment based on a “desire to do anything other that have to face me in the general election.”

Trump Nevada campaign spokesman Keith Schipper said with Biden’s “lackluster fundraising barely able to keep the lights on, it looks like he won’t even make it to Nevada.” The Silver State’s caucus is scheduled for Feb. 22, after Iowa’s Feb. 3 caucus and New Hampshire’s Feb. 11 primary.

Meanwhile, Titus praised Biden on CNN, where she first announced her endorsement.

“I’ve seen him up close. I’ve worked with him in Congress. I’ve known him for a long time,” Titus said. “I think he’s the best qualified to be president of all the good Democratic candidates.”

Titus’s endorsement comes one day after former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who served as agriculture secretary under President Barack Obama, endorsed the former vice president in the first caucus state.

Titus is the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to endorse a 2020 candidate in the four early voting states, according to the Biden campaign.

She joins 56 local leaders across Nevada who have endorsed Biden for president.

“I told my constituents that I would speak up about this race once I reached a decision about who will be our strongest nominee. Now I am making good on that promise. I’m excited to campaign for Joe Biden in Nevada and across the country.”

The Nevada Republican Party has moved to cancel its caucus, handing Trump the party’s delegates over long shots William Weld, a former Massachusetts governor and former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill.

The Titus endorsement is the first from a member of the state’s congressional delegation, who have been lobbied heavily by the candidates for their support in the first state with demographics that mirror a national makeup of gender, racial and religious populations. Titus said her congressional district is the most diverse in the state.

Titus, a progressive with growing seniority in the U.S House, is an early boost to a Democratic candidate in a swing state that has trended Democratic in the past two election cycles. She endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 over the more liberal Sanders.

Titus represents Las Vegas, a solid Democratic bastion and home to the politically powerful Culinary Union Local 226 that is critical to Democratic primary and general election victories in Nevada.

The powerful union opposes “Medicare for All” plans proposed by candidates such as Warren and Sanders that don’t allow for people to keep private insurance. The Culinary has negotiated for good health care benefits for members and their families.

Biden, for his part, supports expanding on the Affordable Care Act that was passed under Obama. Perhaps ironically, Titus was the first member of the delegation to support Medicare for All.

But Titus applauded Biden for shepherding through Obamacare and supporting legislation to stop gun violence, which gripped Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017 when the worst mass shooting in U.S. history occurred on the Strip, located in her congressional district.

Polls show Biden with a healthy lead in Nevada over Warren, Sanders, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Harris.

The composite of those polls compiled by the website Real Clear Politics shows Biden with 29 percent of the vote, Warren with 20 percent, Sanders with 19.8 percent and Buttigieg and Harris in single digits.

The polls were taken between Nov. 6-13, before the last Democratic debate aired on MSNBC.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.