Exclusive: Biden to run for White House, says Dem lawmaker

Former Vice President Joe Biden will run for president in 2020, a senior Democratic lawmaker told The Hill on Tuesday, a move that will shake up the crowded Democratic primary field and make him the clear front-runner for his party’s nomination against President Trump.

“I’m giving it a shot,” Biden said matter-of-factly during a phone call with a House Democratic lawmaker within the past week — a conversation the congressman recounted to The Hill and interpreted as a sure sign that Biden will run in 2020.

{mosads}In the brief phone call, the former vice president asked if he could bounce some campaign strategy ideas off the lawmaker and invited the lawmaker to sit down with him in person in the near future. Biden also said he hoped to have the lawmaker’s support, something the lawmaker did not commit to.

Biden responded that there was no harm if they keep talking, according to the lawmaker who spoke to The Hill on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the phone conversation.

Biden did not share any details about when or where he planned to make his formal presidential announcement, the lawmaker said. Biden and his wife, Jill, just returned from vacation in St. Croix in the Caribbean, where they reportedly discussed potential pitfalls and began finalizing their plans, The Associated Press reported.

Biden spokesman Bill Russo refuted the idea that the former vice president is absolutely running: “He has not made a final decision. No change.”

But at an event with firefighters Tuesday morning, Biden teased a 2020 presidential run as the crowd chanted, “Run, Joe, run!”

“I appreciate the energy you all showed when I got up here,” Biden told an energetic crowd at the International Association of Fire Fighters’ annual conference in Washington, D.C. “Save it a little longer, I may need it in a few weeks. Be careful what you wish for.”

His entry into the race has been largely expected. In recent weeks, the 76-year-old Biden has been laying the groundwork for what would be his third and final presidential bid, seeking support from Democratic donors, lawmakers and others in his political circle.

Biden, who served as President Obama’s vice president for two terms, also has a team of campaign aides already assembled for the moment he decides to launch a White House bid, which is expected in early April.

Senate and House sources said Biden has been reaching out to allies on Capitol Hill with increasing frequency in recent weeks, having conversations about what his potential candidacy would look like. Biden, Democrats said, has talked about how he could win in the primary, making the case that a growing Democratic field would work in his favor and that, because of things like his blue-collar appeal, he would be the strongest candidate to beat Trump in a general election.

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has been speaking to Biden regularly and urging him to jump in the race. Richmond said he believes that Biden is “95 percent” committed to running and has been coordinating calls between Biden and other members of Congress. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he has been informed that he’s on a “call list” and Biden should be reaching out soon.

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), a longtime Biden friend, said the former VP called him last week. While Biden wasn’t “declaratory” about a White House bid in that call, Casey told The Hill Tuesday, it would be “very surprising” if Biden didn’t run. 

One source familiar with Biden’s thinking says it’s all part of the former vice president’s mission “to check all boxes” before he officially announces he’s running.

“He’s basically in. He’s just running the traps, as he says,” the source said.

In a Monday interview with CBS, Democratic Sen. Christopher Coons, who now holds the Delaware Senate seat Biden held for 36 years, said he was “confident” that Biden would run.

“If he gets in, he’s the front-runner,” conceded a second House Democratic lawmaker, who has already endorsed another candidate for president. “He’s the standard that others will have to measure up to in terms of policy knowledge, in terms of his ability to run a presidential campaign, and folks who are close to him in the polls will have to compare themselves to Biden’s strengths.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a former Biden staffer during the 1980s, hasn’t spoken to Biden recently but said there is nothing stopping his former boss from running again.

“At this stage in life, he doesn’t have a lot to lose and has a lot to gain. And he has a lot to offer the country,” Connolly told The Hill outside of the Capitol. “He offers the prospect of some desperately needed healing in this country after this scourge.”

A new Monmouth University poll had Biden leading the pack, with 28 percent of likely Democratic voters saying they support him in the primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was a close second, with 25 percent, followed by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), with 10 percent, and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), with 8 percent.

But it won’t be smooth sailing for Biden. There is a concern among Democrats that while he would make a strong general election candidate, he would have a tough time in a primary because the party and many of his potential presidential rivals have tacked increasingly to the left.

The former vice president will also face decades-worth of opposition research — including his comments on the crime bill and his vote on the Iraq War — which portrays Biden as out of touch with the Democratic Party. And in the era of “Me Too,” he will face criticism for his treatment of Anita Hill when he chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings.

“He obviously has a wealth of experience that he brings, but he also has a lot of baggage,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a leading progressive in Congress, told The Hill. “He’s at a bit of a disadvantage. He’ll have challenges because of his history and what he represents in an increasingly diverse electorate.”

One Democratic lawmaker who spoke with Biden last week and has been encouraging him to run said the former vice president is very close to announcing his White House bid, barring some unforeseen complication.

“He’s 95 percent there, but he’s not 100 percent,” the Democratic lawmaker said. “He wants to make sure the due diligence is done, but it’s no secret he wants to go.”

Despite the swarm of senators already in the race — Sanders, Harris and Warren, as well as Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) — one Democratic senator is hoping Biden joins the group.

“I love him,” the senator told The Hill, “and think he’s got a unique ability to connect with Americans in the Rust Belt who feel left behind by government.”

Updated at 3:20 p.m.