Local elected officials react to former President Biden’s cancer diagnosis

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with what his doctors are calling “aggressive” prostate cancer.

On Monday ABC6 News heard from local elected officials, wishing the former president well as he begins this fight.

“[My] prayers are with the family,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said. “It’s a tough, tough diagnosis. I wish him and the family well.”

While in office, one of the Biden Administration’s priorities was cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years.

The initiative was a continuation of his work as vice president to address a disease that had killed his older son, Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015.

“Increasing research for cancer and to find a cure for cancer was a big priority of Joe Biden’s when he was president, and even though he is not president anymore, we ought to continue that commitment,” Representative Seth Magaziner said.

Magaziner added that many American families know the struggle President Biden is about to face.

“We are all rooting for him as he struggles with this battle against cancer, a battle that so many American families know all too well,” Magaziner concluded.