An old quote from the 1980s has resurfaced in which former Vice President Joe Biden, the leading Democrat in the race for the White House, bragged about Delaware siding with the South during the Civil War.
According to Rolling Stone, the quote appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sept. 20, 1987.
"We [Delawareans] were on the South's side in the Civil War," Biden is quoted as saying during a campaign speech he delivered in Alabama.
The same story also claims that Biden bragged to others about how he was given an award by former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a high-profile racist during his day.
The Biden campaign responded with a statement to Rolling Stone that labeled President Donald Trump a "racist maniac."
"As a young Senator, Joe Biden declared that if George Wallace — an unhinged, racist maniac — became the presidential nominee of his party, he would support Gerald Ford," the campaign said. "If more GOP leaders had a scintilla of that same courage in 2016, they wouldn't be debasing themselves this very minute by defending another unhinged, racist maniac."
Delaware was a border state during the Civil War and supported slavery at the time.
Biden came under fire last month during a Democratic presidential debate when Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., criticized him for opposing busing during the 1970s.