Wednesday 8 June 2022 06:25 PM Biden says elections last night are a 'message BOTH parties have to act on ... trends now
President Joe Biden said voters had given politicians a clear order in Tuesday night's ballots: It is time to act on crime and gun violence.
He spoke to reporters on Wednesday before boarding Air Force One to fly to California, stumbling on the steps as he did so.
He left after two closely watched votes in California showed how voters were prioritizing rising crime - in San Francisco, where the city's liberal district attorney was recalled and in Los Angeles were a tough-on-crime Republican finished ahead of a progressive Democrat in the race to be mayor.
'The voters sent a clear message last night,' said Biden.
'Both parties have to step up and do something about crime as well as gun violence.'
He added that states and cities must hire more officers and reform police departments.
'The first major bill we passed ... we gave the states and localities billions of dollars, billions of dollars and then encouraged them to use it to hire police officers and reform the police department,' he said.
'Very few have done it.'
President Joe Biden spoke to reporters before climbing the steps to Air Force One and a flight to California where he is hosting the Summit of the Americas
Flowers, toys, and other objects to remember the victims of the deadliest U.S. school mass shooting in nearly a decade, resulting in the death of 19 children and two teachers, are pictured at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
The results pose a challenge to Biden's party, which has focused on criminal justice reform in recent years.
The president added that he had sent to Congress a request for $300 million in the budget to hire and train officers.
'It’s time they move. It's time states and the localities spend the money they have to deal with crime, as well as retrain police officers, as well as provide for more community policing,' he said.
It comes as the nation once again considers how to prevent mass shootings, after 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
A University of Berkeley poll in April found that crime and lawlessness were now voters' number one concern in California, putting the issue ahead of race relations, healthcare and the pandemic.
In San Francisco, that meant the removal of DA Chesa Boudin, who was accused of being soft on crime.
'The right-wing billionaires outspent us three to one,' he said in a defiant speech to supporters following news of the recall results, which saw more than 60 percent of San Franciscans vote to recall him.
Boudin, 41, went on to assert that citizens had been 'exploited' by these groups, saying they 'took advantage an environment in which people are appropriately upset.'
'They created an electoral dynamic where we were literally shadowboxing,' Boudin, who narrowly won office in November 2019 as part of a wave of woke
