Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s swearing in makes history during unprecedented time for the Supreme Court

        Candice Norwood · June 30
      • Biden’s new environmental justice office aims to tackle the health impacts disproportionately faced by people of color

        Jessica Kutz · June 2
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How pregnant people can prepare for a summer of heat waves

        Jessica Kutz · June 17
      • The 19th Explains: How new Title IX guidelines on sexual misconduct may give more help to survivors

        Nadra Nittle · June 14
      • The 19th Explains: How would overturning Roe v. Wade affect IVF?

        Jennifer Gerson · May 27
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the 2019 Democratic women's leadership forum, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Election 2020

Joe Biden wants to move on. Some women voters say not so fast.

For some, removing Donald Trump from office isn't enough to dismiss sexual assault allegations raised against the former vice president.

Amanda Becker

Washington Correspondent

Amanda Becker portrait

Published

2020-05-07 13:31
1:31
May 7, 2020
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Friday was a busy day for Joe Biden. When the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee broke his silence and personally denied a sexual assault allegation by Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer, he covered multiple fronts. First, there was a Medium post in which Biden wrote that the allegations “aren’t true” and called on the National Archives to identify and release any record of a complaint made by the staffer. Then, he told Mika Brzezinski “it did not happen” in an MSNBC interview. Finally, there was a virtual fundraiser, where he assured Obama administration alumni that the claim “has no merit.”

And though the former vice president has said “it isn’t enough just to simply take my word for it,” several of his endorsers — many of them high-profile female Democrats — did just that.

“I know Joe Biden,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on CNN Sunday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told reporters the next day that she found Biden’s denial “credible” and “convincing.” Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC that the issue, to her, was closed. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will host a “Women for Biden” call on Thursday evening. Whitmer, Warren and Gillibrand are thought to be among the more than a dozen women who Biden is considering as a running mate.

As Biden seeks to unite the party by winning over younger and more liberal voters who supported his rivals during the primary race, progressive and women’s groups and voters are signaling that responding to the allegation cannot be a one-day event. Nor should Biden rely on surrogates to answer for him.

Some groups, along with women voters Biden will be relying on in November, warn that a reckoning may be coming for Democrats who are seen as distancing themselves from the #MeToo and #BelieveWomen movements they championed during the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred in high school.

“How do we on the one hand shout out ‘believe women,’ but then not this one?” 62-year-old Laurie Steinke, a Democratic voter in Charleston, South Carolina, said.

In Biden’s case, Reade said in a March interview that he pinned her against a wall and digitally penetrated her in 1993 when she worked in his Senate office. 

“I don’t know what the party needs to do, but the last thing that needs to be done is for it to be flippantly passed by or swept under the rug,” Iowa City resident Amy Chastain, 44, said of the allegation against Biden in an interview. 

Though Chastain supported Warren in Iowa’s caucuses, she said she will back Biden to get President Donald Trump out of office. She worries, though, that some voters might stay home if they feel their choice is between two candidates who have both been accused of sexual assault. Trump has faced more than a dozen allegations of sexual assault or misconduct that he denies.

“How do we on the one hand shout out ‘believe women,’ but then not this one?”

Biden “should be speaking out profoundly against abuse of power and the systemic, historical problem that we have with men abusing that power,” Chastain said.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Democratic strategists supportive of Biden point to polling showing that the primary motivating factor for many Democrats this election cycle is beating Trump. They note that Biden faces one allegation of sexual assault while Trump faces many, cite the former senator’s role in passing the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, and highlight his stances on issues such as equal pay as differentiators with the current president.

“Women in this country sure know the difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on this issue and frankly a whole lot of others,” said Lily Adams, who advises Unite the Country, a super PAC supporting Biden’s candidacy.

Melissa Sayers, a 36-year-old paralegal in Montclair, New Jersey, whose opposition to Trump prompted her to return to college to get degrees in political science and law, said she was “resigned” to backing Biden in November despite the allegations “out of an urgency to replace Trump.”

“It’s not ideal, but it’s where we are,” Sayers said.

Biden’s campaign did not respond to requests to comment for this story.

The Democratic National Committee has rejected calls for an independent investigation of Reade’s claim, with Chairman Tom Perez saying he trusts Biden. Senate officials, citing confidentiality concerns, have said they cannot confirm whether there are records of a harassment complaint Reade said she filed. Biden’s surrogates have moved on to other topics. Biden has little to gain by further discussion of the allegation unless it becomes politically necessary, strategists said.

But the pressure may be building on him to do so.

At least two Democratic senators — Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon — have broken ranks to call for an independent review of Reade’s claim. 

Biden has little to gain by further discussion of the allegation unless it becomes politically necessary, strategists said. But the pressure may be building on him to do so.

A Monmouth University poll released on Wednesday showed that 86 percent of registered voters are aware of the allegation. Thirty-seven percent said it was “probably true” and 32 percent said it was “probably not true.” Another 31 percent had no opinion.

Potentially more problematic for Biden: 45 percent of voters aged 18 to 34 said they think the allegation is probably true, and 43 percent of independent voters and 37 percent of voters in “swing” counties won by less than 10 points in 2016 thought so too. All are constituencies critical to Biden’s success in November. 

The poll shows that some voters believe the allegation but it isn’t “enough to override their desire to oust Trump,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. But Murray said the “outlook is murkier” for those who have yet to form an opinion, including “a number of Democratic-leaning independents who could potentially be swayed.”

A newsletter you can relate to

Storytelling that represents you, delivered to your inbox.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

A separate Morning Consult poll released earlier in the week showed that 37 percent of registered voters thought sexual harassment and misconduct is a “major issue” for Biden and another 25 percent thought it is a “minor issue” for him.  

Michele Dauber, a Democratic fundraiser, Stanford University law professor and chair of the nonpartisan Enough is Enough Voter Project — which seeks to make violence against women a ballot-box issue — said she has been “deeply disappointed, sad and scared” watching Democrats’ response to Reade’s allegation, which is “certainly over the threshold for what deserves an investigation.”

“It is aberrant that this is not the next step,” said Dauber, who believes the DNC should hire one of many well-known firms that investigate such matters.  Should such an inquiry conclude the allegation has merit, Dauber believes the party should consider an alternate candidate for the top of the Democratic ticket ahead of the Democratic National Convention in August.

“We’re not stuck with him,” Dauber added. “It’s not too late, the nominee is selected at the convention.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

Up Next

Lilly Ledbetter

Election 2020

Lilly Ledbetter, advocate for equal pay for women, endorses Joe Biden

Ledbetter cites Biden's experience, saying "we need someone that knows how Congress and the presidency works.”

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram