Report: Joe Biden to announce presidential bid next week
Former Vice President Joe Biden (DoD News photo by EJ Hersom)
WASHINGTON (FOX 35 WOFL/AP) - Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to officially launch his presidential bid next Wednesday, according to The Atlantic.
Sources tell The Atlantic that Biden will make the announcement for his 2020 presidential run by video, using footage shot outside his old home in Scranton, Pa.
Talk surrounding whether or not Biden will make a run for the White House has been going on for a long time. The Democratic field already has more than a dozen candidates willing to go up against President Donald Trump in 2020.
The president recently predicted that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Biden will be the final two Democrats standing in the race against him.
The specific launch date and location is unclear. Biden is likely to quickly make visits to early-voting states.
One person said Biden’s advisers are also considering an early event in Charlottesville, Virginia, the site of a deadly clash between white supremacists and counterprotesters in 2017. The location would be intended to draw a contrast between Biden and President Donald Trump, who initially said there were some “very fine people on both sides” of the violent confrontation.
Biden has been particularly outspoken against the rise of white supremacy in the Trump era.
One of the most recognizable names in U.S. politics, Biden served as Barack Obama’s two-term vice president after nearly four decades as a Delaware senator. His high-profile, working-class background and connection to the Obama years would help him enter the race as a front-runner, although he faces questions about his age and whether his more moderate record fits with a party that has become more liberal.
With a record in elected office that stretches half a century, Biden faces multiple challenges.
Last month he struggled to respond to claims he touched 2014 Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores’ shoulders and kissed the back of her head before a campaign event. A few other women have made similar claims, though none has alleged sexual misconduct.
The incident is just a taste of the harsh vetting from both parties expected for Biden, who has run for president twice before but never from such a strong political starting point.
His first White House bid in 1988 ended after a plagiarism scandal. And in recent weeks, he was repeatedly forced to explain his 1991 decision, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, to allow Anita Hill to face questions about her allegations of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas, then a nominee for the Supreme Court.
Biden has since apologized for his role in the hearing. But in the #MeToo era, it’s another example of why critics believe he may struggle to catch on with the Democratic primary voters of 2020.
On paper at least, however, he may be well positioned to take on Trump in a general election.
The Republican president’s allies have privately warned that Biden might be the biggest threat to Trump’s re-election given Biden’s potential appeal among the white-working class in the Midwest, the same region that allowed Trump to win the presidency.
The Associated Press contributed to this report