Why Won't Former Vice President Joe Biden Run For Office In 2020?

While speaking at an annual state Democratic Party dinner Sunday in New Hampshire, former Vice President Joe Biden said he won’t run for president in 2020. The dinner was organized to honor the country’s first all-female, all-Democratic congressional delegation in Manchester.

His speech to the New Hampshire Democrats, in which he spoke about restoring dignity to politics and winning back working class voters, raised speculations that the former vice president would try making another presidential bid in the 2020 elections. However, Biden put a rest to all such speculation, saying: "When I got asked to speak, I knew it was going to cause speculation. Guys, I'm not running,” Biden clarified while the audience applauded.

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But as soon as Biden made that statement, the audience booed and at least one person shouted "Run, Joe Run," before he could continue with his speech.

Biden said he wouldn’t run for public office. Instead, he was ready to start campaigning and raising money in order to help get Democrats elected at every level of governance. He also endorsed some of his post-White House policy work, which included chairing the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware.

During his speech, Biden was accompanied by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Reps. Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter.

"We know now you've finally earned the title Granite State, because you have four women running the show," Biden told the audience. "Amazing thing, I campaigned for all of them and they won in spite of it,” he added.

Earlier in January, Biden said he had no intention of running for public office in 2020 and also mentioned that instead he would employ his White House staff at two universities to continue research on issues that he cared about.

While speaking on a television show, “The View,” he said he was only joking when he told reporters in December 2016 that he would run for president in four years’ time.

"I have no intention of running for president but I do have the intention to stay deeply involved in everything I’ve done my whole life," he had said.

"I am going to have a full-blown staff, leading people in the country, on cancer care, on foreign policy, on domestic policy, and violence against women, and I’m going to run an entire operation out of the University of Delaware where if you name the 10 best people in the country on this, three of them will be working full time for me," he mentioned in January during the interview.

During the dinner appearance on Sunday, Biden also spoke about how Democrats should not be afraid to work together and start getting to know each other on the political front. He said although it would be hard for them in the next few years, they should not be disheartened. Instead, they should be hopeful and take it up as a challenge.

"I know it seems like we're hopelessly divided. I know it feels like we're hopelessly stuck in a political death match and we can't figure out how to get out of it," he said.

"But we are better than that. I've always believed that we're strongest when we act as one America," he added, Associated Press reported.