While talking with reporters Monday, Vice President Joe Biden said half-jokingly that he is going to run for president in 2020. A reporter asked him if he was planning on running in 2020. Biden paused and said:
“Yes I am. I am going to run in 2020… For president…What the hell.”
Biden at the Capitol: "I'm going run in 2020. What the hell." Takes a long pause when asked if he was joking pic.twitter.com/9HIRvJDY7Z
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 5, 2016
Biden had strongly considered running in the 2016 election, but the tragic death of his son Beau due to brain cancer was too much for him and his family to handle alongside a presidential campaign. His decision not to run, while at the time seemed like the right move, was something he regretted “every day.”
The Vice President had just presided over the Senate as it discussed a biomedical research bill he’s supporting when he was asked about a potential run in 2020. The cancer provisions within the bill was renamed for his son, Beau Biden.
But Is He Serious?
The reporters questioned whether or not Biden was joking, causing him to pause again before saying:
“I’m not committing not to run… I’m not committed to anything. I learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of intervening.”
Whether or not he’s serious, this statement has caused waves across the media. The VP is well respected in Washington, and most preliminary polls had him faring well in the 2016 election had he decided to run.
Biden also doesn’t seem to have gotten tired of the political lifestyle, saying:
“Every time I come up here, I feel invigorated… I love this place. I mean, this is, this is, where I spent my life.”
Who knows what the next four years are going to bring, but there is currently a dire need for a strong democratic candidate to oppose President-elect Trump in 2020. Vice President Biden could easily be that candidate, it just depends on whether he’s serious or not about running.
Featured image credit: U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv via Wikimedia Commons/CC-2.o
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