DES MOINES, Iowa — Joe Biden spoke of his connection to black voters at an NAACP event Sunday afternoon and claimed his “political identity” was molded by minorities in his home state of Delaware.

“I have a lot of black support because that’s where I come from. I was raised in the black church, politically, not a joke,” the former vice president said in Des Moines. “When I got into politics, I was the only white guy working on the east side, in the projects, because these were the guys I grew up with. These were the guys I worked with.”

Biden addressed a packed room of roughly 100 people, mostly white, at a minority outreach organization called Urban Dreams. Although he appeared roughly 30 minutes after his start, attendees continued trickling in before he addressed the crowd.

He spoke extensively on his consistent support from black Democrats, which a number of polls show back him by double-digits over his rivals. That consistent support, Biden said, was because of his decades-long relationship with black voters that started when he was a city council member in Wilmington, Delaware. During his time as a local politician, Biden said he would “go to a black church after regular mass every Sunday.”

“People ask why do I have such overwhelming support from the African American community, because that’s what I’m part from,” he said. “That’s where my political identity comes from. It’s the single most consistent political constituency I’ve ever had.”