“We have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences, and men should pay attention," former Vice President Joe Biden said. "And I will.” | Win McNamee/Getty Images 2020 Elections 2020 Dems express sympathy for Biden’s accuser The former vice president says he doesn't think he acted 'inappropriately' with Lucy Flores, but she says he needs to change how he behaves.

Several Democrats vying to be their party’s presidential nominee are expressing concern about former Vice President Joe Biden after a female politician accused him of inappropriate contact during a 2014 campaign event.

Biden, meanwhile, continued his attempt at damage control as he weighs entering the 2020 field, issuing a carefully worded statement on Sunday.


“Not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately,” he said.

Biden’s statement capped a long week in which the not-quite-candidate was rocked by a series of controversies , ending in a Friday essay in The Cut in which Lucy Flores, Nevada’s former Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, accused him of an “awkward kiss” at a rally in 2014.

“He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head,” Flores wrote. “My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused.”

Her account was met with nondenial denials by the former vice president’s spokesman and allies who called into question her account. But over the weekend, some of Biden’s likely presidential primary opponents said they believed her.

“I think our first responsibility is to make sure that we, that we allow these women, we recognize their bravery and that we listen to them,” former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “And we believe them, right?”

“I think the more important issue to recognize is that we’re at an inflection point, really a moment of transformation of the entire country, where women, in many cases for the first time, are having the courage to come forward and speak about things that happened to them that make them intensely uncomfortable.”

On ABC, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she had no reason to doubt Flores.

“I have not read her interview, but I know the vice president addressed it there in that statement and he will continue to address it if he decides to get into this race,” she told host Jonathan Karl on “This Week.”

“I think we know from campaigns and from politics that people raise issues and they have to address them,” she added, “and that’s what he will have to do with the voters if he gets into the race.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” also said he had no reason not to believe Flores.

“I think what this speaks to is the need to fundamentally change the culture of this country,” he said.

He stopped short of saying Biden’s alleged behavior was fundamentally disqualifying.

“That’s a decision for the vice president to make,” Sanders said. “I’m not sure that one incident alone disqualifies anybody.”

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), another possible 2020 candidate, told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “He does need to answer this.”

He appeared on the program right after Flores and applauded her courage.

“The bottom line here is that women deserve the respect and the opportunity to share these stories,” Moulton said. “And it takes tremendous courage to do so. And that’s not easy, what she just did on TV.”

In her CNN appearance, Flores amplified her earlier comments.

Lucy Flores, a candidate to be Nevada’s lieutenant governor, waves as she takes the stage to speak at a campaign event Oct. 28, 2014, in Las Vegas. | John Locher/AP Photo

“It was shocking because you don’t expect that kind of intimate behavior, you don’t expect that kind of intimacy from someone so powerful and someone who you just have no relationship [with] whatsoever — to touch you and to feel you, and to be so close you in that way,” she said.

“I want him to change his behavior,” Flores told Tapper. “And I want him to acknowledge that it was wrong.”

Flores, who served in Nevada’s State Assembly from 2011 to 2015, said she wanted there to be a “bigger discussion” about how there is no “accountability structure” in the political system for women to address inappropriate behavior or “more serious” instances of sexual assault.

“There needs to be a conversation about powerful men feeling that they have the right to invade a woman’s space whenever they like,” she said.

Biden’s Sunday statement — in which he promised to “remain the strongest advocate I can be for the rights of women” — steered clear of accusing Flores of lying but stressed that in his four decades of public service, he had “offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort."

"And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.

“I may not recall these moments the same way, and I may be surprised at what I hear,” he said. “But we have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences, and men should pay attention. And I will.”

Flores told Tapper that she thought Biden’s statement was an improvement over his earlier response to her allegations.

“Well, I certainly think that [the statement] is better than his first statement that they released on Saturday,” she said. “I’m glad that he’s willing to listen. I’m glad that he is clarifying his intentions. Frankly, my point was never about his intentions. And they shouldn’t be about his intentions. It should be about the women on the receiving end of that behavior. And this isn’t the first time and it wasn’t the only incident where he was acting inappropriately with women.”

Two other 2020 Democratic candidates came out in support of Flores even before her television appearance and Biden’s statement.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said on Saturday that “Joe Biden needs to give an answer.” And former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro told reporters: “I believe Lucy Flores. We need to live in a nation where people can share their truth.”

The issue of Biden’s physical contact with women, which has been commented on for years, takes on new light as he decides whether to run for the presidency for the third time in his life but the first time in the #MeToo era. He has faced renewed scrutiny of his handling of Clarence Thomas' 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, in which Anita Hill accused the future justice of sexual misconduct.

Biden’s relatively slow response to Flores highlighted the criticisms from fellow Democrats who have said that neither he nor his advisers appear ready to handle the crush of a modern campaign and the issues that go with it. And the response by some of his allies and supporters who have questioned Flores’ motives recalls a similar reaction by some Democrats earlier this year to allegations that Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, sexually assaulted two women. While Fairfax denied the charges, the Democratic mantra to “believe the woman” was relatively muted when compared to the way in which many rallied against Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year.

On Saturday, Flores was under such pressure that she went on Twitter to defend herself from accusations that she was merely a supporter of Sanders’ presidential bid. She then explained further on CNN on Sunday.

“The reason why we’re having these conversations about Vice President Joe Biden is because he’s considering running for president,” Flores said. “And, frankly, the reason why I felt so compelled to finally say something was because, over the years, as this behavior was documented, as it was, frankly, dismissed by the media.”

She added: “What I am saying is that it’s completely inappropriate, that it does not belong in any kind of a professional setting, much less in politics. And that is something that we should consider when we are talking about the background of a person who is considering running for president.”

Quint Forgey and David Cohen contributed to this article.