Joe Biden makes long-anticipated 2020 presidential run announcement
PHILADELPHIA (FOX 29) - Former Vice President Joe Biden made the long anticipated announcement Thursday that he will pursue the Democratic nomination in the 2020 election.
"I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time, but if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation," Biden said in a social media video.
The upcoming election circuit will be Biden's third run at the White House. His previous campaigns were in 1988 and 2008.
In his announcement video, Biden used past transgressions during the Trump presidency, like the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, to stoke support from his constituents.
"He said there were "some very fine people on both sides," Biden said of President Trump." With these words, the President of the United States assigned a more equivalence between those spreading hate and those with courage to stand against it."
Meanwhile, President Trump was not short for comment on Biden's announcement..
"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe," the President said via Twitter. "I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick and demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the starting gate!"
Closer to home, Biden briefly spoke to the media at the Amtrak station in Wilmington, Del. Thursday morning. The 2020 hopeful surprised some when he revealed that he asked former President Barack Obama to not endorse him.
"Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits," Biden said.
With Biden officially in the race, the field of Democratic nominations expands to an even 20. But Biden's name recognition and body of work alone figure to put him as an early front runner to challenge President Trump in 2020.
According to Biden's website, the former vice president will make his first official campaign appearance in Pittsburgh on Monday.