Former Vice President Joe Biden ‘not closing the door’ on 2020 presidential run

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Joe Biden hasn’t made up his mind about whether to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, but the former vice president is “not closing the door,” he said on Monday.

“I’m not closing the door. I’ve been around too long,” Biden said on NBC News’ “Today” show. “I’m a great respecter of fate.”

The former U.S. senator added, “But who knows what the situation is going to be a year and a half from now. I don’t have any idea.”

For now, Biden, 74, wants to focus on Democrats’ winning the off-year elections, he said, as well as his new book, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose,” a memoir about the last year of son Beau Biden’s life before he succumbed to brain cancer.

He announced in 2015 that he would not seek the presidency because the “window on mounting a realistic campaign” had closed before his family was able to work through their grief.

“Unfortunately, I believe we’re out of time; the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination,” Biden said in October 2015, five months after his son’s death.

He does not regret sitting out the race “because it was the right decision for my family,” Biden said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey Sunday.

Biden, who represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, made previous bids for the White House in 1988 and 2008, when he dropped out and became then-Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate. If he chooses to run in 2020, Biden will be 77 on Election Day.

Asked Monday by NBC News whether his age would be a problem for voters if he were to mount a 2020 campaign, Biden said, “I think it’s a legitimate issue for people to raise.”

“I think people have a right to ask about your age, your health,” he added. “I think if anyone were to run for president, you should fully disclose your medical records.”

Since leaving the White House, Biden has launched the political action committee American Possibilities and the Biden Foundation. He has also been a strong critic of President Donald Trump.

“I do think there’s things that [Trump’s] doing well,” Biden said. “It’s more the tone of this administration that bothers me.”

Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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