Congressman John Lewis (D) Georgia, the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington, gave the nod to former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming Georgia Presidential Preference Primary.
The Georgia primary was initially scheduled for March 24 but was pushed back to May 19, 2020, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Lewis’ announcement made it clear that he is riding with Biden clear into the November General Election.
“I’m worried whether we’re going to be able to have a free and clean election. I just hope that despite whatever is going on now, that people will not be afraid to come out and vote. We have to vote. We fail to vote, we don’t count,” Lewis argued.
Lewis rounds out a strong contingent of civil rights and political leaders to come out in support of Biden. The list includes Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina), former U. N. Ambassador Andrew Young, U. S. Representative Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia), Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom, and former Attorney General Sally Yates.
Practically every surviving civil rights leader from the 1950s except Jesse Jackson has endorsed Biden.
“I’ll do everything in my power, whether in Georgia or some other parts of the country, to encourage people to vote. We cannot find an excuse not to vote. We must make it easy and simple and convenient for everyone to participate in the democratic process,” said Lewis, a stage four pancreatic cancer patient.
“He is a man of courage. A man of great conscience. A man of faith. He will be a great president. He will lead our country to a better place. He’ll inspire another generation” Lewis averred.
The Congressman is excited over the prospect that Biden will nominate a woman to run with him. He told Greg Bluestein with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, “It’ll be good to have a woman who looks like the rest of America: Smart. Gifted. A fighter. A warrior. And we have plenty of able women. I think the time has long passed to make the White House look like the whole of America.”
Among the list of women rumored on Biden’s radar are former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom, former Attorney General Sally Yates, all smart, gifted, fighter-warrior women from Georgia.