Biden heralds midterm elections as ‘rejection’ of ‘extremism’ undermining democracy
Naomi Lim
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President Joe Biden alluded to former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election challenges during an address delivered as co-host of his second Summit for Democracy.
Biden underscored last year’s midterm elections as “free, fair, and secure,” demonstrating the “resilience” of the country’s democracy after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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“Voters resoundingly and roundly rejected the voices of extremism attacking and undermining our democracy,” he told the virtual summit on Wednesday from the White House. “Our job is to keep building on our progress so we don’t start heading in the wrong direction again.”
Biden cited the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act as one instance in which he is ensuring “elections continue to reflect the will of the American people and protect the peaceful transfer of power.”
“We’re going to keep working to further strengthen protections by working to pass what we call the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” he said.
Biden’s remarks at the summit, the inaugural event of which was last year, were attended virtually by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in addition to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso Mendoza, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, and Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova. Egypt, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Turkey were not invited to participate.
“We’re committed to supporting democratic institutions, human rights, rule of law, media freedom,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters this week. “So decisions around whether to add countries to the summit invitation were made with all these themes in mind. Those that were newly invited in 2023 demonstrated clear political will to bolster the themes of the summit.”
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Biden opened his speech Wednesday by apologizing for his raspy voice, a symptom of a head cold.
“That’s the only thing that’s happening to me these days,” he said.
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