Five months after ending his own 2020 presidential campaign, Rep. Seth Moulton is wading back into the Democratic primary race.

The Massachusetts congressman announced Monday that he’s endorsing Joe Biden for the party’s nomination, citing the former vice president’s “experience,” “judgement,” and prospects to beat President Donald Trump in the general election.

“There’s no better preparation for the White House than the decades Joe Biden has spent serving the country, especially his eight years as vice president,” he said.

Moulton also noted that Biden was the “first person” to hold a rally for him after the now-41-year-old Salem Democrat won his insurgent 2014 primary campaign against incumbent Rep. John Tierney.

.@JoeBiden is a proven and effective leader who has what it takes to beat Donald Trump and unify our country. I’m proud to endorse him. pic.twitter.com/fqoLlueHYt — Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) January 27, 2020


Moulton joins fellow Rep. Stephen Lynch as the second member of the Bay State’s all-Democratic congressional delegation to back Biden, breaking with the majority of the group (Reps. Jim McGovern, Lori Trahan, Joe Kennedy III, Katherine Clark, and Ayanna Pressley) who have endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Reps Richard Neal and Bill Keating have yet to officially endorse a candidate in the race.

Moulton’s announcement Monday doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

During his own short-lived White House bid, the Harvard-educated Marine Corps combat veteran ran as a progressive candidate with an emphasis on foreign policy. However, he also had vocal objections to the more left-leaning education and health care plans proposed by Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders. And when he ended his own campaign, Moulton warned that “veering too far left” could cost Democrats come the November general election.

Moulton has also expressed reservations about the more moderate top-tier candidate: fellow Harvard graduate and military veteran Pete Buttigieg. Despite their shared ideological common ground, Moulton slighted Buttigieg’s lack of on-the-ground military experience as a Navy intelligence analyst (not to mention the former South Bend, Indiana mayor’s social circles in college).

Biden, a 77-year-old longtime fixture of Washington, D.C., isn’t an exact fit for Moulton, whose mantra — from the beginning of his first congressional bid to his effort to block Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House speaker to his own 2020 presidential campaign — has been calling for “a new generation of leadership.”


But the 6th District congressman and fierce Trump critic apparently feels there are more urgent matters at stake this election.

“The most important task for Democrats in 2020 is to get Donald Trump out of the White House and Vice President Biden is the best candidate to do that,” Moulton told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported his endorsement Monday morning. “Biden has the most experience and the widest appeal to the broadest swath of voters in the places we need to win this November.”

Moulton reportedly plans to travel to Iowa next week — and later New Hampshire — to campaign for Biden.

In his statement, Moulton credited Biden for his record “turning progressive ideas into laws,” such as the since-expired federal assault weapons bans, the Violence Against Women Act, and the landmark healthcare reform act passed under President Barack Obama. But “most importantly,” Moulton added, “Joe can win.”

“He can bring together the Democratic Party’s winning coalition from the Obama years,” he told the Journal. “He can also appeal to moderates, independents and Republicans who are disillusioned with Trump’s behavior.”