Asked by the Guardian if Biden could be that candidate, Omar was less than optimistic.

“There are few people who fit into the kind of progress that we all want to see in this country,” Omar said. “And I would say he is not one of them.

“I think it has been very clear to many of the people who have been creating the kind of movement that is exciting generations, that we want somebody who really has a plan that is going to tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have, and he doesn’t.”

Asked about Biden’s absence, former housing secretary and presidential hopeful Julián Castro told the Guardian: “I’ll just say that if we’re going to win this election in 2020, it’s going to be because we excite people, and we can’t excite them if we don’t show up for them.”