Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) on Thursday took a shot at Joe Biden, suggesting his ideas are "staler than Donald Trump's" and saying Democrats can't nominate a presidential candidate who has served in government over 20 years.
Swalwell discussed the upcoming Thursday night debate on CNN's Newsroom, where he was asked whether he would take on the former vice president directly.
"You got to win the primary first and you're up there against a lot of people on that stage, congressman, so with Biden being the frontrunner, will you take him on directly?" host Brooke Baldwin asked.
"Well, I'm going to tell the country that we are at our best when we move in one direction—forward," Swalwell said. "That we in our past whether it was presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama, or President Kennedy in the past. It was always a page forward. The American people see these issues today as issues of the future and we can't have a candidate who has ideas that are staler than Donald Trump's."
Baldwin followed up by asking Swalwell whether he believes Biden is a "candidate of the past."
"I don't think we can nominate a candidate who has been in government for longer than 20 years. I just don't think that is going to work. I think we need someone who's going to offer a vision for the future, who lives and gets these issues on student debt, gun violence, health care cures, climate chaos. Again, we can't nibble around the edges anymore."
Swalwell then appeared to comment on Biden's age, saying he will "actually" have to live with the decisions he makes as president.
While Swalwell was specifically going after Biden with his 30+ years in the Senate and 8 years as vice president, Gov. Jay Inslee (Wash.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) have both served in government for over 20 years also.