On Wednesday, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign pushed back against Politico’s report that Biden only wants to serve one term in office if elected in 2020.
“Lots of chatter out there on this so just want to be crystal clear: this is not a conversation our campaign is having and not something VP Biden is thinking about,” tweeted Kate Bedingfield, the campaign’s deputy manager and communications director.
According to Politico, Biden has been privately signaling to his aides that he likely will not seek a second term if he beats President Donald Trump. However, he and his campaign reportedly want to keep the plan under wraps to avoid a lame duck presidency vulnerable to attacks from political rivals.
Four anonymous sources said that Biden running for reelection at his age would be “virtually inconceivable,” in Politico’s words.
“If Biden is elected, he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he won’t be running for reelection,” an unnamed campaign adviser said.
“He’s going into this thinking, ‘I want to find a running mate I can turn things over to after four years but if that’s not possible or doesn’t happen then I’ll run for reelection,'” another adviser told Politico.