CITY HALL -- Rep. Max Rose has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden after initially throwing his support behind former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Island congressman and a group of eight other representatives announced Wednesday.
“I believe Vice President Biden can unite this country and ensure we remain the greatest country in the world. That's why I am endorsing Joe Biden or President,” Rose said.
“Throughout his career, Vice President Biden has worked with both parties — even when it was hard —because he believed it was the right thing to do. At this moment in our country’s history, we need someone not only with his experience, but his empathy,” he continued.
Rose’s latest endorsement comes after he endorsed Bloomberg in January.
At the time, Rose cited Bloomberg turning the city around after Sept. 11 and his bipartisan approach to politics as reasons why he supported the former mayor.
State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore) and the Island’s Democratic Party boss Assemblyman Micheal Cusick (D-Mid Island) also endorsed Bloomberg for president earlier this year.
But last week, Savino and Cusick both said they had no plans to endorse any other presidential candidates at the moment.
Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race and threw his support behind Biden after he won just one Super Tuesday contest in American Samoa.
Bloomberg backed Rose’s predecessor former Republican Rep. Daniel Donovan in his unsuccessful 2010 bid for state attorney general.
In 2018, Bloomberg also donated $5,400, the maximum amount for individual donors, to Donovan’s congressional bid in the lead up to the Republican primary where the former Island congressman faced off against ex-GOP Rep. Michael Grimm.
The eight other Representatives that endorsed Biden include New York Reps. Gregory Meeks and Nita Lowey; Pete Aguilar, Scott Peters of California, and Juan Vargas of California; Lucy McBath of Georgia; Bobby Rush of Illinois; and Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.