VICE President Joe Biden has announced that he will not run for president in the 2016 election.
“Unfortunately, I believe we’re out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination,” he said on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Biden made the announcement at the White House Rose Garden, putting to rest months of speculation about his immediate political future. He said he would focus on his remaining time in office for now, but gave little indication about what could happen after that.
“But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation,” he said.
A Biden bid appeared unlikely earlier in the year, although he gave it some thought before his son Beau, who passed away in May, fell ill to brain cancer. But he began looking into the possibility during the summer, reaching out to advisers and allies. In September, he began courting donors.
Elected to the Senate when he was 29 years old, Biden spent 36 years representing Delaware in the legislative chamber and served as chairman of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. And throughout his political career, it was no secret that he had his sights set on the White House.
While he unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988 and 2008, Biden was positioned to be a more competitive candidate after serving two terms in the Obama administration. There was also the scandal that broke out earlier this year involving Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, which made 2016 his best and final opportunity to participate in the race for the presidency.
However, after his son’s death, Biden warned that his and his family’s loss was overwhelming and that they may not be prepared for the demands of a presidential campaign.
Furthermore, Biden’s aides were divided on whether the vice president should join the race, particularly considering that many of the Democrats’ top donors and strategists backed Clinton. Given this, Biden would have had to compete with her for votes and donors.
An aide said Biden made his decision on Tuesday, Oct. 20, according to The New York Times.
In his speech Wednesday, Biden discussed the case he would have made as a candidate and also made some indirect criticisms toward Clinton, without mentioning her name, about how she asserted in the Democratic debate that Republicans are her enemies.
“I believe that we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart, and I think we can,” said Biden, who, during his time in the Senate, frequently worked with members in both parties.
“They are our opposition; they’re not our enemies. And for the sake of our country, we have to work together,” he said.
Despite his jabs, Clinton, in a statement, praised Biden’s “passion for our country,” his “devotion to family,” and cited his record of fighting for the middle class.
“Joe Biden is a good man and a great vice president,” she said. “And I’m confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden.”
Politicians from both sides of the aisle agreed Biden would have made a good candidate, but said “he made the right decision,” as Democratic Senate Minority leader Harry Reid told CNN.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump echoed the sentiment while also taking a stab at Clinton.
“I think Joe Biden made [the] correct decision for him & his family. Personally, I would rather run against Hillary because her record is so bad,” Trump wrote.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden’s decision makes it easier for the GOP to win the election.
“Vice President Biden was the most formidable general election candidate the Democratic Party could have fielded, and his decision not to challenge Hillary Clinton greatly improves our chances of taking back the White House,” Priebus said.
With a little more than a year remaining as vice president, Biden said he and his family “intend to spend the next 15 months fighting for what we’ve always cared about, what my family’s always cared about, with every ounce of our being.”
