DENVER — Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse of Boulder County is the fourth highest in the House Democratic Caucus. He holds the position of Assistant Minority Leader.
9NEWS asked Neguse’s office for an interview following President Biden’s debate with former President Donald Trump. Another request was sent after Biden’s NATO news conference, and there were several requests ahead of and after Biden announced he would no longer run for reelection.
Rep. Joe Neguse's interview with 9NEWS political reporter Marshall Zelinger finally happened on July 26.
(Editor's note: This interview has been edited for context and clarity.)
Marshall Zelinger: It was tough to know where you stood with President Biden's reelection effort. Did you think he should continue running or did you think he should drop out and chose not to tell that to Coloradans?
Neguse: I'd say a couple of things. So first and foremost, I respect the president's decision. I agree with the president's decision. I thought he gave a very important and eloquent speech just a few days ago in explaining his rationale for why he decided to no longer proceed as the nominee of our party going into the November election. As you know, one of the privileges that I have in the House is serving as the Assistant Democratic Leader, Assistant Minority Leader, essentially, in the House. I was privileged to play a role in convening conversations between my colleagues on this precise question for the better part of a few weeks, as we worked to try to figure a way forward and enable members of the caucus to be able to share their views. And I wanted to, certainly, be careful about getting in front of my colleagues given my role in facilitating that process. As I said, I think the president made the right call.
Zelinger: You think he made the right call, and earlier in that answer, you said you agreed with him, does that mean you felt he should step aside and just was not vocal about that?
Neguse: No, I guess what I'm saying to you, Marshall, is one, I had a responsibility, again as the Assistant Democratic Leader in the caucus, to engage with every member of the caucus and facilitate them giving their feedback to leader [Hakeem] Jeffries, who I work closely with so that he could then ultimately convey the views of our caucus to President Biden. I didn't really see it as a binary. I said publicly at the time, multiple times, to a number of different outlets, that it was the president's decision that he was the presumptive nominee. But that, ultimately, he would have to make the decision that he believed was in the best interest of the country.
Zelinger: What do Coloradans get from that other than the appearance of perhaps being less accessible and less forthcoming?
Neguse: I would respectfully disagree with that characterization, Marshall. We've done a lot of interviews over the last 10 days with local media. Did a couple interviews with CBS4 last week about some of the topics that you mentioned, but also about other work that we're doing in the community, a variety of different events that we did to honor veterans, and we just did a bunch of interviews this morning with FOX31 and with, I think, CBS4 as well and a number of interviews with other local outlets. I just disagree with your characterization on that front and obviously welcome the opportunity to be able to engage with you today about whatever topic you'd like to talk about.
Zelinger: How about the part about less forthcoming? In your answer previously it seemed like, again, you're playing the facilitator role that "I don't want to say, I'm trying to gather people." Are you silenced now because you're in leadership?
Neguse: No, not at all. Far from it. I mean, as I said, I don't know if you want to rehash the questions about the president's decision to stay in the race, but as I said previously, I articulated publicly that I had conflicting views about the path forward and that, ultimately, I thought it was the president's decision to make that. I didn't see it as binary. I understand that you do and that others do as well, and obviously, I respect that opinion also, but no, far from it.
FULL INTERVIEW:
Zelinger: The list of potential vice-presidential candidates for Harris is heavy on white males. What does it say that a minority female candidate is expected to find a white male running mate to help her electability?
Neguse: I don't agree that that's the expectation. I mean, it's certainly not. I think that the vice president and I've worked with her for many years both in her capacity as vice president, but also as a U.S. Senator when she was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which as you know, as I'm a member of as well, and I trust her to have the best judgment in selecting who she believes will be the most talented, most thoughtful governing partner and the most effective vice president for our country. I would just say that I've always believed that merit matters and that you select the best and most talented people, by the way, it's why I'm excited about Vice President Harris’ candidacy for president. I think she's one of the most qualified candidates for president of the United States, probably in the last quarter century, with the exception of Joe Biden, just in terms of her public service record.
Zelinger: Can you tell me at the time you had concern that President Biden should not continue running for reelection?
Neugse: Certainly after the debate. I mean, I think I had the same reaction that a lot of Americans, certainly a lot of Coloradans, did after the debate. In terms of the president's performance during the debate, I think legitimate questions were raised about the electoral prospects in light of both the debate and the perceptions around his performance. And that was something that I certainly was concerned about that. I heard from constituents, and I also heard from colleagues. But just to be clear, you know, I also heard the alternative view as I suspect you did, again, part of this is because I do so many town halls and community events.
Zelinger: We heard about Congressman [Jason] Crow getting to say his piece on a phone call. Did you ever get a chance to say anything directly to the president?
Neguse: I did not speak directly to the president. As I said, I, you know, serve in the House leadership, and so was part of that process to ultimately funnel up the information to leader Jeffries who did meet directly with the president and presented the caucus’ views.
Zelinger: Do you feel the president's decline was covered up by Democratic leadership like yourself?
Neguse: I don't believe that. No.
Zelinger: Do you believe there needs to be an investigation about a cover-up of President Biden's decline?
Neguse: No, I mean, again, the president has been out front, he's delivered a number of speeches in just the last two weeks, including, I thought, one of the most compelling speeches of his entire public service career, which has been a distinguished career over 50 years, just a few days ago. So, no, I think that that's a spurious argument that's being made by, unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and I think that's unfortunate.
Zelinger: Your colleague, Congressman Yadira Caraveo, was one of six Democrats who voted yesterday with Republicans "strongly condemning" Vice President Harris for her handling of the border. Was that a Republican smear campaign?
Neguse: Yadira Caraveo is a personal friend. She's a treasured colleague. Our districts are adjacent to each other. I think she's done a fabulous job representing the people of Adams County and Weld County, and she is a rising star in our party. And I'm just very grateful that she's been willing to serve in this capacity. I would say, with respect to your particular question, and just, kind of, more broadly, the Democratic Party is not a monolith, right? I mean, we're a big tent party. We have a diversity of views within the House Democratic Caucus and we're not all going to see every resolution or every bill that comes before us the same way. As you know, I voted against the resolution that you referenced. Congresswoman Caraveo was not the only Democrat to vote for it. There were others as well. If anything, I think the fact that we have a richness of views and that we can have a healthy debate and agree to disagree, but nonetheless, be undergirded by our shared values is what makes the Democratic Party strong and frankly very different again, without to get too partisan here, but very different from my colleagues on the other side who, you know, are very much kind of towing the party line, uh irrespective of their underlying views on the matter.
Zelinger: Why do you think she participated in voting for that?
Neguse: You'd have to ask her for her rationale in terms of why she supported the resolution. I haven't spoken to her about that.
Zelinger: Let me ask it this way. What do you think of her participating and voting for it?
Neguse: I'm not going to speak for her and her decision-making about why she votes on a particular piece of legislation. We have a space within the Democratic Caucus to reach a different conclusion.
Zelinger: I'm not going to ask you if you're going to run for governor. But what I do want to ask to conclude is, will the results of the November election inform your decision of whether or not you want to run for governor?
Neguse: What I would say is my focus, and I know I'm sure this answer is not going to necessarily placate your question, but just to be honest and candid, my focus really is on doing the job that I've been elected to do by the voters of the 2nd Congressional District. It's an honor. It's something I don't take lightly. Six years ago, we were able to make history when I was elected as our state's first Black congressman, and it's something I am proud to be able to serve every day, helping the people of Colorado. I'm focused on that.