Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden has signaled to aides that he will only serve a single term in the White House if elected president next year, a report said Wednesday.
Politico reported that Mr. Biden, the Democratic front-runner and former vice president, has quietly indicated that he will not seek a second term in office if he wins in 2020, citing several unnamed sources close to the candidate who suggested it would be “virtually inconceivable” for him to run in 2024.
Those apparent indications have been accompanied by Mr. Biden’s top advisers wondering whether he should publicly pledge he will not seek reelection in 2024, the report said.
“If Biden is elected,” said an unnamed adviser cited by Politico, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years, and he won’t be running for reelection.”
Mr. Biden, 77, said in April that he would not plan on serving just a single term if elected president. Asked more recently, however, he “noted he wasn’t necessarily committed to seeking a second term if elected in 2020,” The Associated Press reported at the time.
“I feel good and all I can say is, watch me, you’ll see,” Mr. Biden told the AP in October. “It doesn’t mean I would run a second term. I’m not going to make that judgment at this moment.”
Kate Bedingfield, Mr. Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director, declined to comment, Politico reported.
Mr. Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Washington Times.
Mr. Trump, 73, currently holds the record for being the oldest person to assume the office of the presidency. He was 70 at the time of his inauguration.
If elected, Mr. Biden would be set to become the nation’s first octogenarian president halfway through his first-term.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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