Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar are endorsing their former presidential rival Joe Biden.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., endorsed Biden on Monday before a rally for the former vice president in Dallas. Minnesota Sen. Klobuchar planned to endorse Biden during the rally, a campaign aide said. Klobuchar ended her campaign Monday, the day after Buttigieg dropped out of the race.
"I'm looking for a leader. I'm looking for a president who will draw out what is best in each of us," Buttigieg said. "And I'm encouraging everybody who was part of my campaign to join me because we have found that leader in vice president, soon to be president, Joe Biden."
Biden praised the 38-year-old Buttigieg, mentioning his late son, Beau Biden, who died of cancer in 2015.
Buttigieg "reminds me of my son Beau," he said. "I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me it's the highest compliment I can give anyone."
The former candidates' endorsements are coming hours after former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he was backing Biden, saying the former vice president's resume and stability made him the best candidate to beat President Donald Trump.
Reid made his decision known the day before California and 13 other states vote on Super Tuesday, but after his state, Nevada, held its presidential caucuses.
"President Donald Trump has done unspeakable damage to our country, our institutions and the rule of law. Democrats need a candidate who can assemble the largest, most diverse coalition possible to defeat Trump and lead our country following the trauma of Trump's presidency," Reid said. "That candidate is Joe Biden."
The move is not entirely surprising given that Reid and Biden were allies who served in the nation's capital together for decades, including a 22-year overlap in the Senate. Reid was also staying neutral prior to last month's Nevada caucuses to avoid putting a finger on the scale of the third Democratic presidential nominating contest in the nation.
But Reid's endorsement comes at a time of growing establishment embrace of Biden as moderate Democrats' only hope of stopping Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' march to the nomination. Some party leaders fear that if Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is at the top of the ticket, not only will he lose to Trump but he will be a drag on down-ballot races, perhaps costing Democrats control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and former Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Mark Udall of Colorado and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas were among the politicians who announced their support for the former vice president after he overwhelmingly won the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
The strong showing in the Palmetto State gave new life to Biden's campaign, but it's unclear how much momentum this will give him on Super Tuesday.
Sanders cast the coalescing of moderates as an indication of his campaign's success.
"Now the establishment, the corporate establishment, the political establishment, you are making them very nervous," Sanders told more than 15,000 supporters at a rally in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. "They're really getting quite upset, they're seeing workers stand up and demand decent wages. They're seeing young people demanding the right to get a higher education without going into debt. They're seeing people all across this country understand that health care is a human right, not a privilege."
