Ending months of speculation, former Vice President Joe Biden has announced he’s running for president in 2020. Biden joins a crowded Democratic field as a frontrunner, though not a dominant one, in polling.
Biden previously ran for president in 1988, dropping out after plagiarism reports. His 2008 presidential run ended after he placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses, but months later, Barack Obama nominated him as vice president, a role in which Biden gained the national prominence and popularity that propels him today.
The question as he enters the 2020 race is whether Biden can maintain that popularity or whether the aspects of his record that made him an unsuccessful presidential candidate will overtake the image of him as the best substitute for a third Obama term. Already, his pre-announcement weeks have been defined by some women coming forward to say that he had touched them inappropriately, and by his fumbling response to that discussion.