Wendy Rhodes

Palm Beach Post

BOCA RATON — John Kerry addressed a packed house Monday morning at a private event in Boca Raton, urging supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden to keep working to get the vote out right up until the last minute.

“Nothing is automatic in politics,” Kerry said, reminding the crowd of his own ill-fated presidential bid 16 years ago. “This is not to be taken for granted. You have to make phone calls, sign up and do the work.”

After losing the 2004 election to incumbent President George W. Bush, Kerry, then a former Massachusetts U.S. senator, went on to serve as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Now, in advance of the March 17 Florida primary, Kerry is supporting Biden with a trek Monday through South Florida that included stops at new Biden campaign offices in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

“About a year from now, Joe Biden will be moving into the White House, and Donald Trump will be worried about if he’s going to the big house,” Kerry told a feisty crowd that included Joe Biden’s brother Frank Biden.

Statistics and personal anecdotes were peppered with good-natured humor as an animated Kerry urged supporters to not assume Biden will clinch the nomination simply because Super Tuesday thrust him into position as Democratic front-runner.

Kerry said that while Biden is presently outpolling Democratic opponent Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, if Sanders were to earn the Democratic nomination, he would receive Biden’s full support.

But Kerry doesn't see that happening. Instead, he said, it will more likely be Sanders tasked with offering support to Biden as the Democratic nominee.

“I’m going to ask Bernie to live by his own words and his own standard and support Joe so we can focus on the real problem which is a president that is out of touch and off balance,” Kerry said.

Kerry reminded supporters that Democrats are in for a tough race against a president he said has proven to be less than forthright.

“He threw the entire intelligence community of the United States under the table,” Kerry said about Trump’s response to reports that his administration colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 elections.

Kerry said he is proud to campaign for Biden, and that while serving as Biden’s Secretary of State, the pair made a strong team — although admittedly not the strongest.

“The only team I can think of that worked more closely than us is Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin,” he said to uproarious laughter and approving head shakes.

As president, Kerry said Biden would focus on jobs, healthcare, re-entering the Paris agreement and a bipartisan effort to address environmental issues and climate change.

“The air is not Democrat air or Republican air, it's universal air,” he said.

“I desperately want to have a president who understands deeply, emotionally and viscerally how critical it is for us to listen to [young people] who are striking because they want adults to behave like adults and save this planet,” he said.

To do that, Kerry said Democrats must do more than just defeat Donald Trump in November.

“Winning the presidency doesn’t do any good if the House and Senate refuse to do the things you need to do, so we have to win up and down the line,” he said, adding that Biden’s vigorous campaigning in 2018 was instrumental in helping Democrats take back the House and partially end the Republican stranglehold on Congress.

It was a message not lost on the event’s host, Jocelyn Schnier, who says Biden will fare better than Sanders at reaching across the aisle.

“Biden seems to appeal to almost every type of coalition of voters as long as you are not a very committed Republican,” Schnier said. “Many people I know that consider themselves conservative or Republican say the only candidate they would consider is Joe Biden.”

John Luca, a retired Boca Raton firefighter and 10-year president of International Association of Fire Fighters local union 1560, said Biden can count on his vote, too.

“I believe he has the type of values and leadership that are desperately needed in the White House right now,” Luca said. “Biden is a pro-labor, pro-worker candidate who’s going to fight for the working class in this country.”

In April 2019, the IAFF, which represents over 300,000 fire fighters nationwide, officially endorsed Biden, calling him a “problem solver who cares deeply about his country and is driven to make it better.”

Almost a year later, that sentiment still rings true to voters like Jose Vivas of Wellington, who crowded around Kerry after the event to shake hands and take pictures.

“I have never been involved — this is the first time,” said Vivas. “This time around, it is very important to participate, because we don’t need four more years of the current White House occupant.”