Former Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden erroneously stated Monday that he is running for the U.S. Senate moments before saying he is running for President of the United States.
“We have to come together, that’s why I’m running as a proud Democrat for the Senate,” Biden said, seemingly misreading his teleprompter script during his remarks in Toledo, Ohio.
Biden continued: “I ran as a proud Democrat for vice president and I’m running as a proud Democrat for president.” He did not correct the previous phrase about presently running for Senate, nor did he give any indication that he noticed a contradiction to reconcile between the two statements.
Later in the same speech, the Democrat standard-bearer directed his audience to a non-existent website: “IWill.com/Ohio.”
Biden, whose verbal flubs and mental hiccups have been a staple of his White House campaign, declared in February that he is a “candidate for the United States Senate” and that people could “vote for the other Biden” if he is not their preferred candidate.
“My name is Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. Look me over, if you like what you see, help out. If not, vote for the other Biden,” the 77-year-old said in his remarks at the First in the South Dinner in South Carolina.
Days later, Biden misspoke again on the campaign trail, pledging to “appoint” the first black woman to the “Senate,” seemingly forgetting that presidents do not appoint senators and that two black women have served in the upper chamber.
“I’m looking forward to appointing the first African American woman to the United States Senate,” Biden said in a stump speech in Sumter, South Carolina, prompting cheers from supporters. Biden appeared to ignore that Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) served as the first black female senator from 1993 to 1999, while Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) was the second black woman to be elected to the upper chamber in 2017.