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According to archives of The News Journal, the main newspaper serving Mr. Biden’s hometown, Wilmington, Del., he would also go on to present himself as a go-between on the Judiciary Committee for conservatives like Mr. Eastland and liberals like Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, and to say that his criminal justice positions are “equidistant between the two factions.”

For Mr. Biden, the early Democratic front-runner, his remarks about Mr. Eastland and Mr. Talmadge — and the pointed criticism he drew on Wednesday — are a sharp example of how much Mr. Biden’s long record can be as much baggage as résumé.

Far from running away from his past, he has, in his seven-week-old campaign, proactively brought up his ties to multiple politicians who had records of opposing the civil rights movement, from Mr. Eastland and Mr. Talmadge to Senator Jesse Helms, the North Carolina arch-conservative. Mr. Biden routinely characterizes that era and those relationships as more civil and functional, with less demonization of the other side, even amid vigorous clashes over explosive issues like race.

Mr. Biden faces an unusual political dynamic: He is seeking to run against President Trump, who has his own heavy baggage and record of divisive positions and remarks. Yet Mr. Trump’s supporters have appeared willing to forgive or look past the president’s political troubles. Mr. Biden may be leading in the polls, but he faces a Democratic electorate that is far from sold on his candidacy and may not be willing to shrug off ghosts from his past — especially when Mr. Biden himself keeps bringing them up.

“He’s already looking ahead to the general election,” said Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, a political advocacy group. “White swing voters may be persuaded by his ability to work across the aisle with segregationists. But that’s not an argument that’s going to work for black Democratic primary voters.”

The remarks also raised questions about Mr. Biden’s political instincts as even allies privately said he could have made a similar argument about his amicable dealings with people who held opposing views without extolling his relationship with notorious segregationists.

One of the Biden campaign’s operating assumptions is that Democratic voters are more interested in bipartisanship than the loudest progressive voices on Twitter would suggest — but some allies implied Wednesday that Mr. Biden’s references overshadowed the broader point about civility he was trying to make.