Biden Denies Plans to Only Serve One Term

'I don't have plans on one term. I'm not even there yet'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2019 12:10 AM CST
Joe Biden Denies Rumors of One-Term Pledge
Joe Biden speaks during town hall meeting at the Culinary Union, Local 226, headquarters in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019.   (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Joe Biden is pushing back against claims that he is considering a pledge to only serve one term. Biden, who recently turned 77, would become the oldest president in US history if he is elected next year—and if he won a second term, he would be 87 by the time he left office. "I don't have plans on one term. I'm not even there yet," the candidate told reporters in Nevada Tuesday. Deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield tweeted: "Lots of chatter out there on this so just want to be crystal clear: this is not a conversation our campaign is having and not something VP Biden is thinking about."

Politico, citing anonymous sources in the Biden campaign, reported Tuesday that it was "virtually inconceivable" that he would seek a second term in 2024. But "this is not a conversation we are having among people who actually are running the campaign," campaign manager Greg Schultz said Tuesday, per NBC. The BBC reports that only three presidents have made one-term pledges. James Polk and Rutherford Hayes kept theirs and declined to run for re-election. William Henry Harrison, who, at 68 years old, was the oldest president in US history when he was inaugurated in 1841, died after just 30 days in office. (More Joe Biden stories.)

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