Biden veterans coalition defends president amid reelection concerns

President Joe Biden's backers had a clear message on Monday: Biden is the nominee and we support him.

Former Under Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy stumped for Biden in Guadalupe on Monday to promote a new coalition of veterans backing the Democratic president.

Standing behind a podium that read “STOP TRUMP,” Murphy knocked down chatter that Biden may step aside in the race against former President Donald Trump after a presidential debate renewed concerns about his age.

“Joe Biden is not a great orator. He’s never been a great orator. He’s got a stutter. But guess what? I didn't vote for him because he was gonna be the next Barack Obama or John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan,” Murphy said. “I voted for him because he’s Joe Biden and he talked about restoring the soul of America. He's done that for three-and-a-half years. He's earned our trust. He's earned our vote.”

Speakers at the American Legion Post 124 in Guadalupe highlighted Biden’s experience as a military parent — his late son Beau Biden was an officer in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps — and contrasted it with Trump’s comments on members of the military including the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Trump once derided McCain’s status as a prisoner of war by saying “I like people who weren’t captured.” 

“We have the option of Joe Biden who is fighting for our nation's servicemembers and their families or Donald Trump, who has a long history of disrespecting Americans in uniform,” said David Lucier, a member of the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame Society who served in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

That message resonated with Ray Gonzales, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Ahwatukee. Gonzales, 75, is a lifelong Democrat but supported the Republican McCain, saying “he was my hero.” He plans to vote for Biden and said the president’s debate performance does not change the fundamental choice between Biden and Trump. 

“People are already set on who they’re going to vote for. Sure, he had a little stumble. But he's not a felon and he hasn't been convicted 34 times. He’s for veterans and I stand by him. I’ve made my choice. Nothing's gonna change — It's too late to find somebody out of the blue,” Gonzales said. 

Biden supporters also cast the election as a fight for democracy. Aaron Marquez, an Army veteran who is a member of the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board and the executive director of VetsForward, told the crowd that Trump is “willing to destroy democracy” in “his own pursuit of personal power, revenge and retribution.”

The Trump campaign fired back in a statement.

“The Biden team is desperate because they know Biden has repeatedly disrespected the men and women who serve this country with honor and valor every single day,” Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita, a combat-wounded veteran, said in a written statement. “The fact is that under Biden, America is weaker on the world stage and has made America more vulnerable.”

Signa Oliver, a member of the Phoenix Union High School Board who served in the Army, said that she views calls for Biden to step aside as an attempt to ignore the will of voters. She noted during the news conference that Arizonans chose Biden in the state’s presidential preference election in March. Biden received 89% of the vote in Arizona, but he was also the only candidate by that point in the race. The president’s lesser-known primary challengers Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson had already dropped out and each received less than 5% of support in Arizona. 

“The media and some fair-weather politicians can clutch their pearls, wring their hands and wet themselves,” Oliver said. “The call to have our duly elected president and vice president step aside is tantamount to announcing to the electorate that our votes in the state primaries do not matter. When I hear that, I hear that we're being ruled, not being represented. Corporate media and politicians, take note.”

Politicians in Biden’s own party asking him to step aside include Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. Murphy brushed off Smith’s comments, saying “more people are worried about their own seats than doing what’s right by this nation” and that “Election Day is not more important than Judgment Day.”

“Joe Biden has delivered for the American people, and more importantly, he’s delivered to my brothers, to the veterans,” Murphy said. “I will tell you, every single one of those members of Congress have said if he's the nominee, they will still vote for Joe Biden.”

Other veterans who attended the news conference on Monday echoed that view. Chris Hill, 61, who lives in Gilbert and served in the Army, said conversations about whether Biden should be the nominee have happened around his family’s table. 

“Maybe some of us — I know my kids who are voters, young voters — would like more spright(ly), active, younger choices, and we have active conversations around the table. And the answer is we can have that conversation,” Hill said, noting the election is only a few months away. “We don't have time between now and the election to change it. Now's the time to get in line, elect someone as a leader and then we move forward from there.”

Hill sees this presidential race as more important than politics as usual. “There's a greater drive for this election in terms of right and wrong, in terms of doing the right thing,” he said. “President Biden is our nominee and we need to unify behind him.”

Frank J. Cota, a 64-year-old Chandler resident who served in the Marines, said he is optimistic about the election in November despite polls that show Biden several points behind Trump in the state. 

“If you're on the ground, doing the groundwork, going to different events, watching what's really happening on the ground, listening to your neighbors, to people face-to-face, I feel like there's more support for the Democratic Party,” Cota said. “Not necessarily Biden, but I think there's more anti-Trump and anti-MAGA that's gonna carry the election. That's how I feel. 

“My son says I'm (naive); I think I might be a little bit,” Cota added lightheartedly. “But at the same time, I’m on the ground.”