Given Tara Reade’s Allegation, the Left Should Reconsider Support for Biden

“It should be deeply disturbing for voters on the Left of the Democratic Party to vote for a candidate who, not only is likely to have sexually assaulted a woman—but who used a position of power to do it and get away with it for years.”

Earlier today, journalist Megyn Kelly hosted Tara Reade, the woman who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of a 1993 sexual assault, for a long-form, sit-down interview. This interview is bound to invite further conversations on Ms. Reade’s accusations—adding to an already frenetic Democratic Party primary process.

It was a primary process that saw a constantly shifting frontrunner. First, Vice President Biden enjoyed a comfortable advantage. Then, Senator Bernie Sanders nearly ran away with the nomination. Next, the establishment of the party finally coalesced behind Vice President Biden. And he became the presumptive nominee following a number of key victories. However, confidence in Vice President Biden’s electoral prowess is beginning to look somewhat less solid with accusations emerging about past sexual misconduct.

What this will mean for the election is still uncertain. Partisan Democrats are rallying behind Biden, but the left-wing of the party remains unconvinced about Vice President Biden, and his weaknesses are increasingly evident. Popular commentators on the Left such as The Hill’s Krystal Ball and Justice Democrats’ co-founder Kyle Kulinski, whose YouTube show Secular Talk has close to a million subscribers, have repeatedly expressed their view that left-wing voters do not owe Vice President Biden their vote. Furthermore, it looks as though a sizable portion of the voters agree: A recent Emerson poll found that 51% of Sanders primary voters are considering voting for a third party candidate. The former Vice President is facing serious obstacles, and Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation is among the most glaring.