President Joe Biden said Wednesday that primary voters sent a strong message to their leaders about preventing gun violence after prominent leftists sustained heavy losses in California.
“The voters sent a clear message last night,” Biden told reporters. “Both parties have to step up and do something about crime as well as gun violence.”
The president commented on the election results prior to boarding Air Force One for a trip to California for the Summit of the Americas.
In California, San Francisco recalled leftist district attorney Chesa Boudin, who enacted a slew of soft-on-crime policies and prosecutorial reforms.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who campaigned on solving crime problems in Los Angeles, finished in the top tier of a runoff contest for the next mayor in a race with leftist Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA).
Biden has a history of pivoting to the issue of gun violence when residents of America’s major cities voice their concerns about rising crime rates.
The president traveled to New York City to meet with Mayor Eric Adams in February after six New York Police Department (NYPD) police officers were shot in the first weeks of 2022.
“Mayor Adams, you say that gun violence is a sea fed by many rivers,” Biden said during their meeting. “Well, you know, I put forward a plan to dam up some of those streams.”
The president has also put gun control in the forefront of his agenda in recent weeks, after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“Enough. Enough. Enough,” he said in a speech last week calling for a ban on some semi-automatic rifles, limiting the capacity of gun magazines, and expanding background checks to include private sales.