Vice President Biden on Monday raised the possibility of a presidential bid in 2020. “I am going to run in 2020,” Biden told a group of reporters in the Capitol when asked about his political future. “What the hell man, anyway.”
Also, best part of this exchange: “(pause for about 4 seconds)”
(via @KellyO) pic.twitter.com/mJTOFheQtk
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) December 5, 2016
The Hill reports,
Asked if he was kidding about running, the 74-year-old paused for four seconds before saying he is “not committing not to run.”
“I am not committed to anything,” he added. “I learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of intervening.”
It would be surprising if Biden decided to continue his decades-long political career, which many assumed would end once President Obama and he leave the White House next month.
Biden will be 78 in 2020 and would by far the oldest person ever to win a major-party presidential nomination if he became the Democrats’ standard bearer.
After months of toying with a presidential run this cycle, Biden announced last October that he would not mount a bid. He said he ran out time “necessary to mount a winning campaign” while mourning the loss of his son, Beau, to cancer.
He instead spent 2016 campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
Biden spoke publicly before the election about his post-White House plans, which include working on his cancer moonshot initiative, a possible policy project with a major university and writing a book.
The vice president was at the Capitol on Monday afternoon to preside over the Senate as it held a vote on legislation funding the cancer initiative, a portion of which the chamber named after Beau.
Biden received an emotional tribute from his colleagues on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the bill was a “testament to [Biden’s] tremendous effort” to fight cancer.
He would have to put that work aside if he decided to launch a presidential bid in four years.
Read more from The Hill
