Surging Joe Biden adds Tampa endorsement as focus shifts to Florida

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is endorsing Joe Biden for president, giving the Democratic front-runner a key voice of support in the vaunted Interstate 4 corridor ahead of Florida’s March 17 primary.

Castor, a Tampa Democrat, said she had been waiting to make an endorsement, hoping someone would emerge as a strong contender to beat Donald Trump. She had been leaning toward Biden, and finally made the decision to back the former vice president after he won South Carolina.

“Joe Biden speaks to the hopes and dreams of Floridians,” Castor told the Tampa Bay Times. “We know him. After the BP oil blowout, Joe Biden and President Obama were fighting for us.”

Castor is also the chairwoman of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, handpicked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead Congressional Democrats in forming solutions to fight climate change. In choosing Biden over Sen. Bernie Sanders, Castor is essentially taking sides in the Democratic Party’s internal war over the best path forward to stop a warming earth.

Sanders has said his environmental plan is modeled off the Green New Deal, the activist-driven proposal to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decade. Sanders’ plan calls for all energy for electricity and transportation to come from sustainable sources by 2030 and he has advocated for a ban on fracking.

Biden’s proposal, while more ambitious than perhaps any past Democratic candidates for president, would lead to a more gradual phase out of fossil fuels that he says is more realistic. He doesn’t support an immediate ban on fracking.

Castor in her role has cautiously managed the politics of climate change. She has sought to win over both Republicans that believe climate change is real and progressive Democrats who want immediate and significant action.

But she said all of the work by House Democrats to tackle climate change means nothing if Democrats don’t win the White House.

“We are not going to be able to tackle the climate crisis if Trump is elected,” Castor said. “Joe Biden is going to win, and I do not have the same level confidence in a Sanders nomination.”

Castor joins her cross bay counterpart, Rep. Charlie Crist, in endorsing Biden. While some in Florida’s delegation have chosen to back other candidates over Biden, like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sanders so far does not have the support of any of the state’s major elected officials.