Nick Corasaniti, Katie Glueck and Matt Stevens

But as the next high-stakes televised debate rapidly approaches, the two leading black candidates in the Democratic contest, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, have mounted a direct challenge to Biden’s decadeslong record on race in hopes of undermining his standing with black voters and ultimately derailing his candidacy.

The reckoning over Biden’s record has drawn him into the most direct confrontation of the campaign yet, as Harris and Booker try to make the case to black voters that they are better suited to promote their interests than Biden. The two candidates have criticized Biden for reframing his own history, including his previous opposition to busing and his role in drafting the 1994 crime bill.

Early polling, both nationally and in some key early states, indicates that many black voters remain unmoved. On Thursday, a Monmouth University poll from South Carolina, a key early voting state, found that 51% of black voters there supported Biden; 12% supported Harris, and just 2% supported Booker.

The searing fight over race, inequality and history has come to dominate the Democratic presidential contest, with Booker angling for an advantage against Biden after watching Harris draw attention for weeks over her criticism of the former vice president over busing. This week, Booker has attacked Biden’s new criminal justice plan, highlighting his link to the controversial crime bill, which experts link to mass incarceration, and dubbing him “the proud architect of a failed system.”

Speaking at the National Urban League Annual Conference in Indianapolis on Thursday, Booker sought to frame the discussion as a referendum on Biden’s past.

“It is easy to call Donald Trump a racist now; you get no badge of courage for that,” Booker said. “The question is, what were you doing to address structural inequality and institutional racism throughout your life? Don’t just tell us what you’re going to do. Tell us what you’ve already done. Don’t just tell us you’re going to be a champion for our communities when you become president, if you haven’t been a champion already.”

Biden and his campaign have increasingly criticized both Booker and Harris, forcefully defending Biden’s record and openly drawing contrasts on issues ranging from health care to policing. Biden’s willingness to engage his rivals comes after his tepid response to Harris on the debate stage last month, when she tore into his past opposition to busing initiatives, dealing him his most significant blow of the campaign to date.

Virtually everyone in Biden’s campaign, from the former vice president on down, subscribes to the idea that he can no longer seek to stay above the Democratic fray, a posture he tried to maintain in the early weeks of his campaign.

“I’m not going to be as polite this time,” Biden said at a fundraiser in Detroit on Wednesday. When an attendee told him that clashing with Booker and Harris now could make him a stronger general election candidate, Biden said: “If they want to argue about the past, I can do that. I got a past I’m proud of. They got a past that’s not quite so good.”

Ever since Booker dispensed with the primary’s early-stage niceties and demanded Biden apologize for his warm remarks about working with segregationists in the Senate, he and Harris have gone on the offensive, aggressively denouncing Biden’s record on race and seeking to portray him as having been on the wrong side of issues and developments affecting black Americans for decades.

Although Booker never mentioned Biden by name Thursday, his speech amplified the critique, making the case that Biden’s record on issues like criminal justice could hamper his ability to energize African American voters, whose turnout will be critical if the Democrats wish to defeat President Donald Trump next year.

“I want to talk about what people often mean when they say or ask, ‘Is someone electable,’” Booker said. “Because most of the time when somebody is asking about electability, they’re not asking about the African American voters who make up the most reliable constituency of the Democratic Party. And that’s a problem.”

A day earlier, Biden swung back at Booker, criticizing his tenure as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

“His police department was stopping and frisking people, mostly African American men,” he said, highlighting the Newark Police Department’s record of conducting improper stops under Booker’s watch.

His campaign also sent a lengthy statement to reporters Wednesday afternoon responding to Booker. “It is Senator Booker, in fact, who has some hard questions to answer about his role in the criminal justice system,” the statement said.

The return volley from Biden’s campaign elevated Booker, a candidate who has struggled in the polls for months, as the back-and-forth created a drumbeat of media coverage. And the aggressive response from Biden further freed Booker to take more direct aim at Biden in the debate next Wednesday, when he and Harris will be standing on either side of him.

The escalating conflict worried the Rev. Al Sharpton, a key leader in the civil rights community, who said that necessary, important and candid conversations about race and inequality should not be marred by politics.

“We cannot afford cannibalism in the middle of the race that would only accrue to Trump’s benefit,” Sharpton said in an interview. “The question is whether or not both of them can concede that they’ve made mistakes but then say this is where we need to go, rather than trading off attacks.”

Sharpton was also critical of Biden’s criminal justice platform, which he said did not address many issues that are central to the national conversation.

“I think he should have gone further,” Sharpton said. “If you are running as Joe Biden, as part of the Obama legacy, stay right where we were taking it — consent decrees, the commission on policing — and say, this is the work that we must continue.”

Less than an hour after Booker made his comments about electability, Kate Bedingfield, the Biden campaign’s communications director, returned fire, sending a tweet with images of two polls that indicated Biden’s support among black voters far surpassed Booker’s.

While Harris also lags behind Biden in support among African Americans, her performance in the June debate gave her a significant boost in recent polls, propelled in part by black voters.

Dot Scott, president of the Charleston, South Carolina, branch of the NAACP, sounded resigned when asked about the clashes between the candidates over race and warned them not to go too far.

“The issues that they’re bringing up probably would never even be discussed if it wasn’t, everybody’s looking for the same job,” she said. “It’s unfortunate because I want to make sure, being the Democrat that I am, that we don’t damage one another so bad that it hurts the efforts of the Democratic Party.”

Asked whether she was troubled by any aspects of Biden’s past, Scott, who has stayed neutral in the primary, said she was “not disturbed in the least.”

“The absence of a record doesn’t mean, had they had the same opportunity, that the other candidates wouldn’t have a record that people can find something wrong with,” she said.

Biden has said he felt blindsided by Harris’ questioning, a point he reiterated in a radio interview that aired Thursday morning on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show.”

“I thought we were friends,” he said. “I hope we still will be.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/us/politics/biden-booker-black-voters.html" id="4ab3f58b-878f-381d-a5e8-d0c501bbce6c">The New York Times</a>.

Booker and Biden Exchange Jabs on Race Ahead of Next Democratic Debate

Joe Biden entered the 2020 presidential campaign with wide support from black voters and a reservoir of goodwill stemming from his eight years as an unswervingly loyal vice president to Barack Obama — a huge head start in a primary in which African Americans will play a decisive role.

But as the next high-stakes televised debate rapidly approaches, the two leading black candidates in the Democratic contest, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, have mounted a direct challenge to Biden’s decadeslong record on race and inequality in hopes of undermining his standing with black voters and ultimately derailing his candidacy.

The reckoning over Biden’s record has drawn him into the most direct confrontation of the campaign yet, as Harris and Booker try to make the case to black voters that they are better suited to promote their interests than Biden. The two candidates have criticized Biden for reframing his own history on race, including his previous opposition to busing and his role in drafting the 1994 crime bill.

The searing fight over race, inequality and history has come to dominate the Democratic presidential race, with Booker now angling for an advantage against Biden after watching Harris draw attention for weeks over her criticism of the former vice president over busing. This week, Booker has attacked Biden’s new criminal justice plan, highlighting his role in championing the 1994 crime bill that experts link to mass incarceration and dubbing him “the proud architect of a failed system.”

Speaking at the National Urban League Annual Conference on Thursday, Booker sought to frame the discussion as a referendum on past records.

Biden and his campaign, meanwhile, have increasingly criticized both Booker and Harris, forcefully defending Biden’s record on race and openly drawing contrasts on issues ranging from health care to policing. Biden’s willingness to engage his rivals comes after his tepid response to Harris on the debate stage last month, after she tore into his record of opposing busing initiatives, dealing him his most significant blow of the campaign to date.

Virtually everyone in Biden’s campaign, from the former vice president on down, subscribes to the idea that he can no longer seek to stay above the Democratic fray on the debate stage, a posture he had tried to maintain in the early weeks of his campaign.

Ever since Booker dispensed with the primary’s early-stage niceties and demanded Biden apologize for his warm remarks about working with segregationists in the Senate, he and Harris have gone on the offensive by aggressively denouncing Biden’s record on race.

By highlighting Biden’s opposition to school busing, his support for the crime bill and other aspects of his long career in Washington, Harris — who later had to clarify her current stance on busing — and Booker have sought to portray their rival as having been on the wrong side of issues and developments affecting black Americans for decades. But polls have shown Biden with consistent, and sometimes commanding, leads among African American voters at this stage in the race.

Though Booker never mentioned Biden by name Thursday, his speech amplified the critique, making the case that Biden’s record on issues like criminal justice could hamper his ability to energize African American voters, whose turnout will be critical if the Democrats wish to defeat President Donald Trump next year.

A day earlier, Biden swung back at Booker’s criticisms by making his own arguments against Booker’s record while he was mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

“His police department was stopping and frisking people, mostly African American men,” he said of the Newark Police Department’s record of conducting improper stops under Booker’s watch.

His campaign also sent a lengthy statement to reporters Wednesday afternoon responding to Booker’s criticisms of Biden’s record. “It is Senator Booker, in fact, who has some hard questions to answer about his role in the criminal justice system,” the statement said.

The escalating conflict between Biden and Booker worried the Rev. Al Sharpton, a key leader in the civil rights community, who said that necessary, important and candid conversations about race and inequality should not be marred by politics.

“We cannot afford cannibalism in the middle of the race that would only accrue to Trump’s benefit,” Sharpton said in an interview. “The question is whether or not both of them can concede that they’ve made mistakes, but then say this is where we need to go, rather than trading off attacks.”

Sharpton was also critical of Biden’s criminal justice platform, which he said did not address many of the key issues central to the national debate.

The return volley from Biden’s campaign elevated Booker, a candidate who has struggled in the polls for months, as the back-and-forth created a drumbeat of media coverage leading into next week’s debate. And the aggressive response from Biden further freed Booker to take more direct aim at Biden in the debate next Wednesday, when he and Harris will be standing on either side of him.

Less than an hour after Booker made his comments about electability, Kate Bedingfield, the Biden campaign’s communications director, returned fire, sending a tweet with photos of two polls that indicated Biden’s support among black voters far surpassed Booker’s.

At the same time, Harris’ decision to highlight Biden’s stance on school busing and integration at the June debates also gave her a significant boost in recent polls that was propelled in part by black voters.

“The issues that they’re bringing up probably would never even be discussed if it wasn’t; everybody’s looking for the same job,” she said. “It’s unfortunate because I want to make sure, being the Democrat that I am, that we don’t damage one another so bad that it hurts the efforts of the Democratic Party.”

Asked whether she was troubled by any aspects of Biden’s record that have come under scrutiny from his opponents, Scott, who has stayed neutral in the primary, said she was “not disturbed in the least.”

As 2020 Democrats Court Black Voters, Biden Faces Reckoning on Race

Joe Biden entered the 2020 presidential race with wide support from black voters and intense goodwill stemming from his eight years as an unswervingly loyal vice president to Barack Obama — a huge head start in a primary in which African Americans will play a decisive role.

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Nick Corasaniti, Katie Glueck and Matt Stevens

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Booker and Biden Exchange Jabs on Race Ahead of Next Democratic Debate

As 2020 Democrats Court Black Voters, Biden Faces Reckoning on Race