Joe Biden to Wisconsin Democrats: 'Deep open wound' of racism won't heal with Donald Trump as president

Joe Biden urged Wisconsin Democrats on Friday to think of George Floyd when they think of 2020. 

Biden, in a brief recorded speech to the party's virtual convention Friday, argued the nation will heal from the wounds borne by racism and a deadly virus only with a new president.

"We're dealing with multiple national crises and we need real leadership right now," Biden said. "It's time for us to take a hard look at uncomfortable truths. It's time for us to face the deep open wound of system racism in this nation."

Biden followed speeches from locally and statewide-elected Democrats, and his former opponent: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. 

Sanders, in remarks more subdued than his crowds are used to, said voters should "keep our eyes on the prize as to what kind of country we want to become," alluding to Biden's campaign theme of being the more moral candidate compared with President Donald Trump. 

Trump spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Biden needed to build enthusiasm through Sanders, who won the 2016 Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin.

"Wisconsin Democrats were forced to bring Bernie Sanders into their convention lineup because no one is excited about Joe Biden," Kelly said in a statement. "Given his party’s radical calls to defund the police and his own terrible record, it’s no surprise that Joe Biden is continuing to hide in his basement while bringing out failed candidates to generate enthusiasm for him in Wisconsin."

Since the suffocation death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died as a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, some protesters calling for changes to how police officers do their jobs argue departments should be "defunded."

Trump has sought to cast himself as the "law and order" president in the debate over whether funding for police departments should be slashed or overhauled.

For his part, Biden has not said he supports the idea of defunding departments. 

Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Andrew Hitt didn't mention legislative races in his comments ahead of the convention, but said Democrats will be in trouble in November in part because of calls to defund police departments.  

"Try as they might to excite their base from their basements, Wisconsin Democrats cannot hide from their increasingly radical policies that are out of touch with Wisconsin families," he said in a statement.

Biden made his comments to the convention hours after his campaign announced he planned to be in Milwaukee for the 2020 Democratic National Convention to accept the party's presidential nomination.

With the coronavirus pandemic upending the campaign schedule, there has been uncertainty about the scale and scope of the convention, which will be held the week of Aug. 17.

Previously, Biden had kept his options open on the convention as the country dealt with the fallout from the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Biden stepped up convention organizing, with his campaign naming two top aides to assist with the effort.

"Decisions about the scope and the format will be made based on the best public health and safety considerations that the DNCC (Democratic National Convention Committee) and the Biden campaign get from experts," Biden campaign spokesman Bill Russo said in a statement.

"As is the case with many other businesses and families around the country dealing with our new normal, we are considering a variety of formats for this to take place, but we are certain that in the end it will capture the enthusiasm and spirit that we have to making Donald Trump a one-term president and transforming our country.”

The week after the Democrats meet in Milwaukee, Trump will attend the Republican Party Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, where he'll accept renomination.

Before Biden spoke Friday, state Democrats made clear their second goal of the year is to prevent Republicans from gaining more seats in the state Legislature. 

Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said the party is working on a "save the veto" effort, or ensuring Republicans don't gain enough seats to be able to override Evers' vetoes to bills and budget items. 

Assembly Republicans have tried to override a few vetoes of Evers but have not gathered enough support, a two-thirds majority, to do so.