Former Vice President Joe Biden is the Democratic candidate best fit to defeat President Donald Trump in the general election in November, says former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who served with Biden in the Obama administration.
Biden is “the man to win the presidency,” says Pritzker, in a newly released interview with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer.
Besides Biden’s electability, Pritzker pointed to his experience under Obama and as a U.S. Senator.
“I think the vice president has the experience, both in domestic policy and politics, as well as globally the respect, in order to put the United States rightfully in the place it ought to be,” says Pritzker, a major Democratic fundraiser who spoke to Serwer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.
“Whether it's a leader in our economic policy, a leader in terms of our attitude towards multilateralism, or a leader in terms of the stature of the United States around the world, all of which are extraordinarily important,” she adds.
Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and sister of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, endorsed Biden’s candidacy earlier this month. In recent weeks, Biden has faced a difficult stretch in the campaign, as the impeachment trial has drawn attention to false but widespread allegations about misconduct committed by his son Hunter Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders surges in the polls.
Democratic primary voters will cast their first ballots on Monday, Feb. 3 in Iowa, followed soon after by contests in New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — all of which will take place in February.
Pritzker made the comments during a conversation that aired in an episode of Yahoo Finance’s “Influencers with Andy Serwer,” a weekly interview series with leaders in business, politics, and entertainment.
After serving as national finance chair for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, she took a seat on Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. From 2013 to 2017, she held the position of Secretary of Commerce. Currently, she sits on the Microsoft (MSFT) board and is chairman of PSP Partners, a private investment firm.
The international standing of the U.S. has declined under Trump, Pritzker said.
“I stay close to my peers, when I was in government, both in the United States and outside the United States,” she says. “Right now, many would say to me, the United States is off the playing field, or we don't think about what the United States is going to react if we take action whereas we used to.”