Biden on whether Sanders can unify party as nominee: ‘It depends’

Former Vice President Joe Biden declined Tuesday to say if he thinks Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could unite the Democratic Party should he become the 2020 nominee.

“We have to unite,” Biden told reporters in Muscatine, Iowa. “I’m not going make judgments now. I just think that it depends upon how we treat one another between now and the time we have a nominee.”

Joe Biden to @mikememoli on whether the Democratic Party could unite behind Sen. Bernie Sanders should he win the nomination:

“I’m not going to make judgments now…But I think, I think yes. I think we can unite. We have to unite.” pic.twitter.com/NWIZw8q9gK

— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 29, 2020

Biden has promised to support Democrats’ ultimate White House nominee, maintaining on the campaign trail he would “work like hell” to help any of his primary rivals oust President Trump.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a top Biden supporter, echoed the former vice president’s remark.

“I think at the end of the day, people are not just looking for someone who can unite our party, but someone who can unite our country,” he told The Hill. “I know Joe Biden can do it. I’m not sure who else can.”

However, he and Sanders have been entangled in a weekslong feud over Social Security, interventions in the Middle East, trade and more. 

Biden, a moderate, has repeatedly argued that a centrist is most likely to defeat Trump in a handful of crucial swing states in November while Sanders has maintained that a progressive is best suited to energize the Democratic base and ramp up turnout.

The feud has only escalated in the leadup to the Iowa caucuses set to take place Monday. Polls show Biden and Sanders running neck-and-neck in the Hawkeye State with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg within striking distance.

Al Weaver contributed to this report