With President Biden’s re-election campaign in question, a mayor from Western Massachusetts was one of a couple hundred who were joined by the president on a conference call this week.
Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle tells WAMC she is standing with Joe Biden as the president faces a growing number of calls to step aside ahead of November’s election.
The mayor of Easthampton since being elected in 2017 says she and around 200 other mayors ended up on a call with the president Tuesday after the Biden campaign reached out to the Democratic Mayors Association.
Initially, the meeting was going to focus on platforms and mayoral feedback. A short time before it started, she says, the mayors were informed Biden would be making an appearance.
“- President Biden is before us on the screen, took a break from NATO, and he, in the first-person, talked about what he was proud of and was able to do directly for cities in the last – three-and-a-half years, and what the plan was going forward,” LaChapelle said.
According to LaChapelle, the president spoke in detail about funding for cities, various projects and a host of what she calls “Main Street” issues such as consumer prices.
The call came a week-and-a-half after the president’s shaky debate with former President Donald Trump that has led to a number of Democrats calling for Biden to halt his campaign.
LaChapelle, who has previously signed on with the Biden-Harris campaign and is a delegate heading to her party’s convention in Chicago next month, says the debate is the latest in a “turbulent” time in the nation’s history.
“What I make of the situation is - it's a continuation of a very turbulent, unknown time, and a whole bunch of avenues of, really, global life, and in America, specifically, our political expectations and political processes are not aligned,” she said. “The events from the debate, going forward, are very dramatic, but we're a democracy in very strong standing because we have processes, and while it's easy to say the DNC and the RNC are political entities, they're - very connected to legal apparatus to access the ballot and make sure our ballots and who's on the ballot have integrity, and I think that can get lost out of fear and put us into a different place.”
She also shared her thoughts on the debate itself.
“Candidly? It was a heck of a bad, bad night. I appreciate the President – it was like the first and third and fourth thing he said was, ‘it was a horrible night,’ and he was very candid about - where he is, as far as getting a lot of things done, and his age and not feeling well, and he owned it and I can say, the process and the integrity of our democracy and elections and voting are still in place and can be in place,” LaChapelle continued. “And I have confidence that President Biden can do it. Sure - is this a different set of circumstances because of age in this race, on both sides? Absolutely. But we've dealt with candidates and had candidates become presidents with a lot of different - adverse conditions or connections. So, what I make of it is - I respect everybody's opinion and concerns and, you know, bless George Clooney, but those people have all been here for the last three-and-a-half years, and what happened on that debate, and having a bad night - like, come on, give me a break. Where have you been?”
Calls for the president to step aside have come from Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton of the 6th district, Vermont Senator Peter Welch and New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. A common thread – concerns over Biden’s ability to wage a successful campaign against Trump.
Both those in favor and against the president stepping aside have said there is much at stake for the party and country if the incumbent were to lose.
For LaChapelle, those stakes include abortion and reproductive rights.
“I wish that, maybe the last four presidential elections, I hadn't said, along with many of my colleagues, ‘This is the most important election of our lives,’ because this time around, this is really the most important election of our generation, and - it falls a little flatter,” the mayor said. “But, you talk about reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade - this is something my mother fought for. This is something my grandmother, who's a public health nurse was really concerned about, and they thought that was kind of packed away like, check the box. And so now I'm fighting for it, my daughter's fighting for it ,and I have an 11-month-old granddaughter, and we cannot look her in the eye and say, ‘Hey, you are going to have full right and control over your own body - in a month when you turn one or in 20 years when you turn 21.’ And that's what's on the line. I also think - every vote counts, and I think that the makeup of the Supreme Court shows that, and that's on the line, and that is a lifetime appointment, and the decisions we've seen just in the last session are heartbreaking.”
LaChapelle says she is ultimately looking forward to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which starts August 19.
Currently the president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association, LaChapelle is serving her last term as mayor, after announcing last year that she would not seek re-election in 2025.
