U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who once weighed his own
presidential run, and U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia,
a prominent black civil rights activist, announced their support
for the former vice president.
Biden is seeking his party's nomination to face Republican
President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.
While Trump carried both Ohio and Georgia in the 2016 election,
Democrats see opportunity to make progress in statewide races in
both places.
"Joe Biden has no delusion about this nation's past, but he
knows who we can be at our best," said Lewis, who was beaten
unconscious by Alabama state troopers in 1965 during a march for
voting rights, in a video posted by Biden's campaign.
Biden maintains a strong lead in the Democratic nominating
contest over his lone remaining rival, liberal U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, after victories powered by support
from black voters and legislators from Southern states like
Georgia.
Yet the coronavirus outbreak has postponed state primaries and
delayed the nominating contest from reaching a conclusion. Ohio
is now collecting ballots, mostly by mail, through April 28 and
Georgians are set to vote on May 19. Both states had originally
been scheduled to hold primaries in March.
Brown, a liberal with strong ties to the labor movement, could
help Biden build his appeal with working-class white voters in
the Midwest as well as among the party's more liberal
constituencies.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by Himani
Sarkar and Jonathan Oatis)
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