2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden claimed Saturday to have began his long career at Delaware State University, a historically black college in his home state, as opposed to the University of Delaware where he actually went to school.
“I got started out at an HBCU, Delaware State. Now I don’t want to hear anything negative about Delaware State here. They’re my folks,” Biden said during a South Carolina town hall.
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While Biden’s comments make it unclear what the former vice president was exactly referring to during Saturday’s town hall, it is likely Biden was claiming to have gone to school there given his own history of exaggerating his record on civil rights and his summer of gaffes. He’s also been criticized for his age and poor memory.
The confusing mix-up occurred while Biden was touting his education plan to voters in the early primary state as the campaign begins to downplay expectations in Iowa and New Hampshire pivoting its focus on South Carolina and Nevada.
Real Clear Politics’ latest aggregate of polls shows Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren now leading Biden in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to cast votes in the Democratic primary while Biden maintains a firm grip on his frontrunner status in the following two states.
Biden’s campaign has been struggling in recent weeks to keep a strong hold on its first-place position as Warren briefly eclipsed Biden in national polls earlier this month to provide Biden unwanted company at the top of the pack. Warren’s poll numbers have since slipped but remains Biden’s most competitive threat in the primary given her strength in the early voting states and fundraising numbers outraising Biden by nearly $10 million in the third quarter. Biden was also out-raised by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.