WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden predicted that Democrats will win the majority in both chambers of Congress in the midterm election.
“We’re going to win back the United States House of Representatives, I promise you. And I predict we’ll win back the Senate, too,” he said during an interview at the Biden Cancer Summit on Friday alongside his wife, Jill Biden.
When Mrs. Biden was asked how she would react if her husband said he wanted to run for president in 2020, she replied, “I would say, Joe, you would make a great president but let’s think about it.”
When asked if he wants to run for president, Biden replied, “No, I desperately want to change the landscape and there is more than one way to do it. I’m looking for someone; there’s a lot of really talented people we have out there: Kamala Harris, you’ve got Cory Booker, you’ve got the former mayor of Massachusetts. You have a lot of talented people.” Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has been floated as a 2020 contender.
He continued, “But we have to stop this degradation of the system that’s going on. That’s why I’m campaigning all over the country. I’m campaigning for candidates because we have to build a berm out there.”
Biden was also asked if he would regret not running in 2020. He declined running in 2016 as his son Beau had recently passed away.
“No, what I said [in 2016] was I regret not being president, but it was the right decision,” he said. “Look, no man or woman should go out and say ‘I am running for president’ unless they can look you in the eye and say you have my whole heart, my whole soul and all my emotion.”
Mrs. Biden agreed it was the right decision for her husband not to run in 2020.
“Our son had just died from cancer and that’s how we started this whole Biden initiative, because we know what it’s like to get that diagnosis,” she said. “We are trying to create the urgency of now with our summit and to bring people together and break down barriers and give them information.”
Biden said there is “reason for hope” around cancer research.
“There’s so much opportunity. If we didn’t find one more cure, if docs started to share data, not hoard it, make it available for everybody for research, we would extend lives beyond anything we’re doing right now, if we didn’t make one more breakthrough. We’re on the cusp of so many breakthroughs,” he said.
“It’s going to take all of us to deliver hope to millions of patients around the world. Together, we can make significant progress. Together, we can make hope real,” the former VP said during his address at the summit.
Biden continued, “I’m beginning to hear from patients and caregivers that they feel hopeful for the first time, not alone for the first time. They feel like someone understands what they are facing, cares about them, is working to improve their lives – not someone who is just Jill and me, but it is all of you. It is all of you.”
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