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| Biden presidential campaign appoints Virginia director, marking early push for newly blue state | Biden presidential campaign appoints Virginia director, marking early push for newly blue state |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Former vice president Joe Biden has appointed a campaign director for Virginia, underscoring the state’s status as a prize for Democrats in next year’s Super Tuesday presidential primaries. | Former vice president Joe Biden has appointed a campaign director for Virginia, underscoring the state’s status as a prize for Democrats in next year’s Super Tuesday presidential primaries. |
| Biden has tapped Fernando Mercado to coordinate his efforts in Virginia, his campaign said. | Biden has tapped Fernando Mercado to coordinate his efforts in Virginia, his campaign said. |
| Biden’s move comes two weeks after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced her Virginia staff, including state director Amy Friedman. | |
| Democratic presidential contenders have been active this year in Virginia, which held legislative elections in November that saw both houses of state government turn blue for the first time in a generation. | |
| Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg kicked off his presidential bid in Norfolk. Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and others have all stumped for Virginia legislative races. | |
| “Virginia will play a key role” in both the primaries and next fall’s general election, Molly Ritner, Biden’s director of Super Tuesday states, said via email. That makes it “imperative” to build a campaign staff here, she said. | |
| Warren’s campaign also stressed the state’s importance as it announced its Virginia team. | |
| “Just as Virginia kicked off the Blue Wave in 2017 and flipped both houses of its state legislature blue in 2019, it will be a bellwether again in 2020 and show that voters are ready for big, structural change on Super Tuesday,” Friedman said in a written statement. | |
| Mercado most recently worked in Iowa for Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), who dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in early December. Before that, he served in a variety of roles for Democrats in Virginia, including policy spots for the Democratic caucus in the House of Delegates and for state Attorney General Mark R. Herring. | Mercado most recently worked in Iowa for Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), who dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in early December. Before that, he served in a variety of roles for Democrats in Virginia, including policy spots for the Democratic caucus in the House of Delegates and for state Attorney General Mark R. Herring. |
| The Trailer: Why the 2020 Democrats are flooding into Virginia | The Trailer: Why the 2020 Democrats are flooding into Virginia |
| He also was director of Latino outreach for Gov. Ralph Northam and worked on U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner’s reelection campaign in 2014. | He also was director of Latino outreach for Gov. Ralph Northam and worked on U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner’s reelection campaign in 2014. |
| Before joining Warren’s team, Friedman helped 2019 legislative candidates across the state as the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s Virginia state adviser. A Roanoke native, she previously worked as the DLCC’s national field director. | |
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