Rep. Anna Eshoo lauds Biden for his years of service

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo said she learned President Joe Biden was giving up his campaign for reelection the same way everyone else did.

“I had just left mass and turned my phone on, and there was the announcement,” she said in an interview with the Los Gatan on Monday. “It was a great act of patriotism.”

Eshoo described Biden as “a man that has always put his country first, with over half a century of public service,” praising his efforts to prevent climate change and wipe out student debt for borrowers.

“I’ve known Joe Biden for about 40 years,” she said. “I believe that historians will treat his presidency as one of the most consequential presidencies in the history of our country.”

Eshoo recalled meeting with Biden in the Oval Office in March 2021, when he urged lawmakers to launch an effort to get yet untamed diseases under control.

“I went right back up to the Hill and began working on it,” she said. “He signed my legislation into law in the last Congress, establishing a new advanced research agency called ARPA-H.”

On Monday night, in a virtual meeting with Democratic Party leaders, Los Gatos Town Councilmember Rob Moore committed to voting for Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed Biden at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as he’s a delegate.

Former Saratoga councilmember Rishi Kumar, another DNC delegate, saluted Biden’s determination and commended him for “prioritizing the country and the party” over his own ambition.

On Monday, he criticized the Democratic Party for what he described as a pressure campaign to convince delegates to “conform and support” Harris.

“As a Biden delegate, I believe it’s crucial for the party to correct course,” he said in a release. “I am advocating for a competitive nomination process that is fair and unbiased via two simple steps prior to the DNC convention, allowing the best candidate to emerge. A meritocracy system, successful in Silicon Valley crowning us as the innovation capital of the world, should guide us in selecting our President too.”