Former U.S. Vice President Biden enters 2020 presidential race

World
Europe

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday formally announced his entry into the race to be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate for the 2020 election by releasing an official video on Twitter.

He is expected to make his first public appearance as a candidate on Monday at an event in Pittsburgh featuring union members, a key constituency.

Biden, 76, had been wrestling for months over whether to run. His candidacy will face numerous questions, including whether he is too old and too centrist for a Democratic Party yearning for fresh faces and increasingly propelled by its more vocal liberal wing.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, seen in March at an event in Delaware. /AFP Photo

Still, he starts as the leader of the pack in opinion polls of a Democratic field that now will total 20 contenders seeking the chance to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, in November 2020.

In a speech to union members in April, Biden called Trump a “tragedy in two acts.”

"This country can't afford more years of a president looking to settle personal scores," he said.

Biden has been one of the party's more aggressive Trump critics. Last year, he said he would “beat the hell” out of Trump if the two were in high school because of the way the president has talked about women. That prompted Trump to call him “Crazy Joe Biden” and claim on Twitter that Biden would “go down fast and hard, crying all the way” if they fought.

Biden later lamented the exchange, saying “I shouldn't get down in the mosh pit with this guy.”

Known for his verbal gaffes on the campaign trail, Biden failed to gain traction with voters during his previous runs in 1988 and 2008.

He dropped his 1988 bid amid allegations he plagiarized some of his stump oratory and early academic work. But his experience and strong debate performances in 2008 impressed Obama enough that he tapped Biden as his running mate.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Biden decided against a 2016 presidential bid after a lengthy public period of indecision as he wrestled with doubts about whether he and his family were ready for a grueling campaign while mourning his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in May 2015. His son had urged him to run.

Biden faced some of the same family considerations this time around, as he is still coping with Beau's death while his other son, Hunter, has gone through a divorce amid a reported relationship with Beau's widow.

(Head image file photo via Reuters: Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks before presenting U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) the 2017 Liberty Medal at the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 16, 2017.)

11160km

Source(s): Reuters