“Run Joe run!”
This was the chant that greeted former Vice President Joe Biden (+700|12.50%) when he took the stage in front of a gathering of firefighters Tuesday morning, urging him to enter the 2020 presidential race.
“I appreciate the energy you showed when I got up here. Save it a little longer, I may need it in a few weeks,” Biden said, garnering cheers and applause at an annual legislative conference for the International Association of Fire Fighters, adding with a smirk: “Be careful what you wish for.”
Biden’s remarks signal he is on the verge of make an official announcement for seeking the Democratic nomination and running for president in next year. The former vice president and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke (+1000|9.09%) remain two of the top betting favorites that have yet to officially announce their presidential bid.
Currently, Biden takes the fourth spot on the list of odds for which candidate is most likely to win the 2020 President Election, coming in behind Republican President Donald Trump (+230|30.30%) and behind the two leading Democratic candidates who’ve already begun their campaigns and are currently tied for second, Senator Kamala Harris (+600|14.29%) and Senator Bernie Sanders (+600|14.29%)
Friends and family of Biden have acknowledged that he will likely choose to launch a campaign for the presidency, but that the official announcement wouldn’t most likely not come before April.
When asked by CNN on when he would announce his decision on whether to run in 2020, Biden said he would announce his decision “pretty soon.”
Biden would then deliver a speech in front of the IAFF, a firefighters union, in what appeared to provide some insight on what his campaign message will be by addressing the concerns of the working class and how President Trump has not kept one of his biggest 2016 campaign promises.
“In America, everybody gets a shot,” Biden said. “That’s what the next president of the United States needs to understand, and that’s what I don’t think this current president understands at all.”
The former vice president in the Obama administration then went on to criticize Trump’s budget plan that he announced on Monday, attacking the president’s proposal to make domestic cuts to Medicare and Medicaid to continue his agenda on creating tax cuts for the “super wealthy.”
“Who are they asking to pay for it? Middle-class families like you, and the neighborhood I grew up in,” Biden said. “Trading Medicare and Medicaid for tax breaks? How is that going to help the people in this room or most of the people you live with? How is that going to help this country?”
Biden also commented on the recent controversy surrounding his comments regarding current Vice President Mike Pence, calling the Republican a “decent guy.”
“Mean pettiness has overtaken our politics,” Biden said. “Today we seem to be at each other’s throat. Sometimes it seems like we can’t govern ourselves. We can talk to one another — if you notice, I get criticized for saying anything nice about a Republican. Folks, this isn’t who we are, this isn’t how we got here. We have to remember what it is that makes this nation so special.”
After thanking the firefighters union and his wife, Jill Biden, gave her speech, a reporter asked the former vice president about his 2020 decision, saying “What’s the hold up?”
“No hold up, the car’s running,” Biden said, getting into his car.