Democratic presidential candidate Jason Palmer shocked the country by defeating President Joe Biden in the American Samoa caucus Tuesday night, robbing the incumbent president of a big victory in the Super Tuesday primary.
Palmer, a Baltimore-based education technology entrepreneur, revealed on CNN after his surprising victory (beating Biden by 11 votes in a 91-person race) that he didn’t even travel to the South Pacific island, but instead interacted virtually with the voters.
In the interview he also encouraged Biden, 81, to resign and pass the baton to the younger generation.
The 52-year-old said he planned to stay in the race, focusing on the March 19 primary in Arizona, and would make a trip to the border.
“I didn’t actually fly to American Samoa,” Palmer said, telling CNN’s Laura Coates that he was, in fact, “surprised” by the displeasure. “I actually held several virtual town halls and talked to citizens there because, you may not know, people in American Samoa are not necessarily automatically American citizens.”
Jason Palmer is interviewed Tuesday night at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC after his upset victory in the American Samoa caucus, which cost President Joe Biden a big victory in the Super Tuesday Democratic primary.
CNN’s Laura Coates (left) interviewed little-known Democratic presidential hopeful Jason Palmer (right), who shocked the nation (and sparked many Google searches) by winning the American Samoa caucus during the Super Tuesday races.
Palmer said he listened to their concerns and shared the ideas he had about how to fix education, health care and climate change.
“As a new candidate, it’s really very difficult to break through,” he admitted.
Like Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, another Biden rival, Palmer said he was in the race hoping Biden would work for the nomination, or drop out.
”The most important thing we can do as Democrats is defeat Donald Trump at the polls this November. Part of the reason I entered the race was to make sure Biden ran a vigorous campaign,” Palmer said.
Palmer said he had campaigned in other states with early primaries, including New Hampshire and Nevada, which held primaries in January and February, and in Colorado, another Super Tuesday state.
“And the Republicans have come out in full force,” he warned. ‘If we don’t campaign equally vigorously, we will lose in November. “When people say we’re sleepwalking toward a Trump election, it’s real.”
Palmer said he was running to energize young voters and would focus on building support from the center left and center right.
‘If Joe Biden only talks about Donald Trump and only talks about foreign policy and foreign wars, he is not going to win in November. You have to have a clear and positive agenda,’ he argued.
Like President Joe Biden did last week, Jason Palmer said on CNN that he was planning a trip to the border soon as he competes for delegates in Arizona’s Democratic primary later this month.
Presidential candidate Jason Palmer said in an interview with CNN that President Joe Biden, 81, should step down and pass the torch to the younger generation.
Palmer then respectfully suggested that Biden withdraw.
“So what I would recommend to President Biden is, first of all, honor him for his 50 years of tremendous service to our country. I think it’s time to pass the torch to the next generation of Americans,” he said.
“Whether it’s me, governors like Gretchen Whitmer, Jared Polis or California Governor Gavin Newsom,” Palmer continued. “There are a lot of young people who are willing to take up that torch, who are great leaders in our party and making sure that Donald Trump doesn’t win in November.”
“I think Joe Biden can be like George Washington, be that transitional figure and pass it on to the next generation,” Palmer added. “And that would be the best thing he could do: retire as a great American statesman.”
Washington resigned his presidency after two terms, setting a precedent for more than 100 years.
Biden won the Democratic primaries in all 15 states where voters went to the polls for Super Tuesday and has faced little competition from Phillips and self-help guru Marianne Williamson, his two best-known rivals.
He has had more trouble with Democrats who voted “uncommitted,” a vote to protest his support for Israel while civilians are being killed in Gaza.
Palmer told Coates that he planned to continue running in the Democratic primary, since less than half of the states have voted.
Arizona, he said, would be next.
The presidential candidate said he would release a 12-page white paper on how to resolve the border crisis, which would include hiring more immigration judges to evaluate asylum claims, among other ideas.
“I look forward to going to the border, campaigning vigorously in Arizona and showing the American people that we can have a path forward on immigration,” Palmer said.