Outgoing Democratic Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday his health will be a major factor in determining whether he chooses to launch a bid for the White House in 2020.
Biden first hinted at challenging Trump, who will likely seek re-election at the end of his first term, when he teased reporters on Capitol Hill last week about his intention to run. Days later, during another appearance at the Capitol, he insisted that he has “no intention of running.”
But the 74-year-old Democrat, who declined to jump in and challenge Hillary Clinton for his party’s nomination earlier this year, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that much of the decision four years from now will hinge on “the state of my health and the health of whomever is running.” Biden would be the oldest commander in chief ever to take office if elected at age 78.
“Four years is a lifetime in American politics,” he said. “I think nominees are determined by their parties based mostly on what skill set is most needed at that time. And who knows where we’re going to be two years from now when people are really starting to look seriously at what they’re going to do.”
Biden was one of the earliest Democrats to warn of a disconnect between Clinton and the white working-class voters who carried Trump to his surprise victory last month. However, he downplayed the suggestion that he could have done better in a matchup against the incoming GOP leader.
“They’d probably be eating me alive,” Biden said of Republicans.
After he leaves office in mid-January, Biden said he will work with party leaders like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to help the Democrats re-establish their roots and “engage in some real serious debates.”
“Like after every presidential election that the party loses, there is no single leader,” he said. “There are voices that hopefully will be heard. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have a voice in the direction of the party.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden added. “I’m really not.”
