Former Vice President Joe Biden said he is uncertain about a run for president in 2020, but indicated he’s looking for fresh blood to lead the Democratic Party back to the White House.
“I’ve done it a long time,” said Biden, who previously ran for president in 1988 and 2008, “and I’m just not sure it’s the appropriate thing for me to do.”
His comments came in an interview with Snapchat’s “Good Luck America” set to be released Tuesday morning, in one of Biden’s first on-camera interviews since leaving office in January. The Associated Press was provided with an exclusive preview of the interview.
Biden suggested that if “no one steps up,” he’d be open to giving it another try.
“I’m not doing anything to run,” he said. “I’m not taking names, I’m not raising money, I’m not talking to anybody, but something’s got to happen.”
Democratic roster
Biden has launched a handful of outside political and policy organizations since leaving the Obama administration, including the Biden Foundation, formed to advocate for his domestic priorities.
The roster of Democrats considering a White House run has swelled well into the double-digits, with potential candidates emboldened by President Donald Trump’s historically low poll numbers.
Biden was interviewed alongside Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, at the University of Delaware last month.
“We’re both hoping that both our parties generate some real energetic people who have the depth and the capacity to do it,” Biden said of the pair.
Biden, 74, considered a run for the Oval Office in 2016, but decided against it, later citing the trauma of his son Beau’s death to cancer in May 2015 for keeping him from the race. The painful subject forms the story of his new memoir, Promise Me, Dad, set for release this week. Biden is launching a month-long tour to promote the book’s publication. He’s become a vocal critic of Trump’s administration in public appearances in recent months.
“We gotta turn this ship around,” Biden said of the country. “And I’d much prefer to be helping someone turn it around than being the guy trying to turn it around.”
Right decision in 2016
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey released Sunday, Biden said he regrets not being in the White House, but not his decision to stay on the sidelines last year.
“I don’t regret the decision I made because it’s the right decision for my family,” he said.
Kasich, who has been an outspoken opponent of Trump’s since he challenged him for the Republican nomination in 2016, declined to address his own 2020 plans. “You hold the pen and the Lord will write the sentence,” he said.
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