Council Bluffs legislator applauds Biden's decision to step down

Iowa state Representative, Josh Turek, represents Council Bluffs and he's the only Democrat from Southwest Iowa in the Legislature. He says he applauds President Biden's decision to bow out of the presidential race.

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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

How are Iowa Democrats reacting to President Biden withdrawing from the presidential race? I’m Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel in Council Bluffs where I spoke to the only Democrat elected to the state legislature from Southwest Iowa.

State Rep. Josh Turek says he applauds the decision and he’s grateful to Biden for more than 50 years of public service.

“I think it was obvious to all of us that he was diminished in his physical and mental capacities,” Turek said, “I think to ignore that fact was to diminish truth, transparency and, ultimately, democracy.”

When he talks to constituents in Council Bluffs, Turek says they are less concerned with divisive, culture war debates and more concerned with bread-and-butter issues like affordable housing and healthcare.

“We’ve got to move away from this party-over-country, divisive mentality. What the last month in American politics, and it’s been a fascinating month between the assassination attempt and, now, President Biden stepping down, we have got to unify this country,” he said.

Turek says the country needs leaders on both sides of the aisle who will move away from “hateful, extreme rhetoric.”