Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced Thursday that he would seek the Democratic nomination to challenge President Trump in 2020, casting the election as a national emergency and asking Democrats to put the task of defeating Mr. Trump above all their other ambitions.

In a three-and-a-half minute video that focused on excoriating Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden presented himself as a steely leader for a country wracked by political conflict. Unlike the wide field of Democrats competing for the affections of the left, Mr. Biden avoided almost any talk of policy or ideology, signaling that he believes voters will embrace him as a figure of stability and maturity even in a partisan primary election.

In doing so, Mr. Biden, 76, is making a bet of sorts that the Democratic Party’s leftward shift in recent years has been greatly overstated, and that the moral clarity of his rhetoric and his seeming strength as a general election candidate will overpower other considerations for Democratic voters who tend to prize youth, diversity and unapologetic liberalism.

Laying out for the first time why he wanted to run for president, Mr. Biden invoked the white supremacist march through Charlottesville, Va., that ended in bloodshed in 2017, and Mr. Trump’s comment that there were “very fine people on both sides.” In that moment, Mr. Biden said in the video, “I knew the threat to our nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.”</s>Former Vice President Joe Biden formally joined the crowded Democratic presidential contest on Thursday, betting that his working-class appeal and ties to Barack Obama’s presidency will help him overcome questions about his place in today’s increasingly liberal Democratic Party.

He made his announcement in a video posted on Twitter, declaring, “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation.”

“If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation,” Biden said. “Who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

Thursday’s announcement marks the unofficial end of the chaotic early phase of the 2020 presidential season. The field now features at least 20 Democrats jockeying for the chance to take on President Donald Trump next year. Several lesser-known candidates may still join the race.

Biden, a 76-year-old lifelong politician, becomes an instant front-runner alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is leading many polls and has proved to be a successful fundraiser. Among Democrats, Biden has unmatched international and legislative experience, and he is among the best-known faces in U.S. politics.

But the anti-establishment wave that swept Trump into office has not been kind to either party’s statesmen. Biden’s team worries about his fundraising ability and his tendency to commit gaffes. His centrist approach in a party moving left on major policy debates raises questions about his appeal.

Four years Trump’s senior, Biden would be the oldest person ever elected president should he win. Yet his allies believe the skeptics will ultimately warm to his strong connections to the Obama years.

Biden has said he would campaign as an “Obama-Biden Democrat,” who is as pragmatic as he is progressive. He’s aiming to be a conduit between working-class white voters and the younger, more diverse voters who backed Obama in historic numbers.

The Republican Party wasted no time seeking to undercut Biden’s record, releasing a video on Wednesday questioning economic growth under Obama and Biden while resurrecting conservative arguments against Obama’s health care law and a failed investment in green energy company Solyndra.

The video ends with the words, “Joe Biden: Backwards, not forwards.”

Yet privately, Trump allies have warned that Biden might be the biggest re-election threat given the former vice president’s potential appeal among the white working class in the Midwest, the region that gave Trump a path to the presidency.

The Republican video notably does not argue a Biden candidacy would lead to socialism, as Trump and his backers have said would happen with many in the large 2020 Democratic presidential field.

Biden is paying special attention to Pennsylvania, a state that swung to Trump in 2016 after voting for Democratic presidential candidates for decades.

The former vice president will be in the state three times within the opening weeks of his campaign. He’ll be in Philadelphia on Thursday evening headlining a fundraiser at the home of David L. Cohen, executive senior vice president of Comcast. Biden is aiming to raise $500,000 at the event.

He will hold an event in Pittsburgh on Monday and will return to Philadelphia in the next two weeks for a major rally.

His plans were described by people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss his schedule and fundraising goals.

With a record that stretches half a century, Biden’s challenges are easy to find.

Most recently, he struggled to respond to claims that he touched 2014 Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores’ shoulders and kissed the back of her head before a fall campaign event. A handful of other women have made similar claims, though none has alleged sexual misconduct.

Biden initially said he didn’t recall the Flores incident but credited her with coming forward. He took a different approach in a subsequent statement, saying, “Never did I believe I acted inappropriately.”

Biden later pledged in an online video to be “much more mindful” of respecting personal space but joked two days later that he “had permission” to hug a male union leader before addressing the group’s national conference.

The episode offered a stark reminder of Biden’s proclivity to gaffes and his long record in public office that has never felt the full glare of the spotlight that comes along with being a presidential front-runner.

His first White House bid in 1988 ended after a plagiarism scandal. He dropped out of the 2008 race after earning less than 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses. Later that year, Obama named Biden as his running mate.

More recently, Biden’s willingness to work with Republicans has caused him political headaches.

He was forced to walk back a comment last month that Vice President Mike Pence is “a decent guy” after intense blowback from liberal activists upset with Pence’s opposition to gay rights.

In recent weeks, Biden also has been repeatedly forced to explain his 1991 decision, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, to allow Anita Hill to face difficult questions from an all-male panel about allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who later was confirmed to the high court.

Biden has since apologized for his role in the hearing. But in the #MeToo era, particularly after the contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the episode remains a significant political liability.

Likewise, Biden once played a key role in anti-crime legislation that had a disproportionately negative impact on African Americans. And while several 2020 Democratic contenders have embraced the possibility of reparations to African Americans for slavery in recent weeks, Biden last month struggled to explain comments he made as a freshman senator in 1975 about the school busing debate.

Biden’s 2020 bid comes four years after he opted against challenging Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic contest.

In a book he wrote about conversations with his dying son, he opened up about the difficult choice to sit out the last presidential race: abandon a careerlong quest for the presidency or lose precious time with a family he’d held together through tragedy, from his first wife’s and his daughter’s deaths in a 1972 car accident to son Beau Biden’s 2015 death from cancer.

“He was worried that what I’d worked on my whole life, the things that mattered to me the most since I was a kid, that I’d walk away,” Biden said of his son.

Ultimately, the draw to take on Trump in 2020 was too strong.</s>The two-term vice president under Barack Obama announced his candidacy, which he framed as a "battle for the soul of this nation" in a video posted from his social media accounts.

Joe Biden launched his long-anticipated campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, ending months of speculation — and, at various points, doubts — about his plans for 2020.

The core values of this nation… our standing in the world… our very democracy...everything that has made America -- America --is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States. #Joe2020 https://t.co/jzaQbyTEz3

The video begins with Biden speaking straight to the camera about Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists rallied two years ago — "their crazed faces illuminated by torches, veins bulging, and bearing the fangs of racism," Biden says as footage of the riots appears on screen. He then hits President Donald Trump for his response to the protests: "That’s when we heard the words of the president of the United States that stunned the world and shocked the conscience of this nation. He said there were quote some 'very fine people on both sides.' Very fine people on both sides?"

"If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are," Biden adds later. "And I cannot stand by and watch that happen."

A former senator from Delaware, Biden is expected to hold his first public campaign event Monday with union workers in Pittsburgh, a choice that underscores his intentions to heavily court blue-collar voters who backed Trump in 2016. He's then expected to travel to early caucus and primary states. The weeks-long rollout will culminate with a May 18 rollout in Philadelphia.



His campaign will be a test on several fronts. Everything from his style (touchy-feely, to the point where he has made women uncomfortable) to his substance (proudly bipartisan, at a time when some on the left demand purity) scans as old-fashioned at a time of political transformation. While the depth of his experience is without parallel in the Democratic primary, he has a long history of votes and behavior that in the context of 2020 require further explanation — if not the kind of apologies that Biden, 76, often can be reluctant to make.

A recent example: After Lucy Flores, a Nevada Democrat, wrote an essay describing how Biden touched her shoulders, smelled her hair, and kissed the back of her head at a 2014 political event, Biden said he did not believe he had acted inappropriately. Alluding to the #MeToo era of women holding men accountable for their misbehavior, Biden also said "men should pay attention" when women such as Flores share their experiences. And then he released a video statement in which he said he would be "more mindful" of personal space going forward.

But a few days later, Biden made light of the accumulating accusations — Flores' and similar, subsequent stories of unwanted touching — by joking at an organized labor conference in Washington that he had received permission to hug a union president and put his arms around a child who had joined the former vice president on stage.

Polls show Biden enters the race as the early frontrunner in a field of at least 20 Democrats, with near-universal name-recognition. His principal competition right now, though, illustrates the new political landscape he'll have to successfully navigate to be the nominee. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist from Vermont who has a deep connection with progressives suspicious of Biden, is close behind in some surveys. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are making big plays for progressive voters. And Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has surged into the top tier of candidates with an "intergenerational justice" theme that could clash with Biden.

In spite of these dynamics (or maybe because of them) Biden took his time deciding to run, following another long and public deliberative process, not unlike the one he went through before deciding not to seek the nomination in 2016.

A 2016 run would have been somewhat of a surprise, given how much traction Hillary Clinton already had in the Democratic field, and given the recent tragedy the Biden had endured: the death of his eldest son, Beau, of brain cancer. But with the formation of the 2020 field — larger, more diverse, and more liberal than in past cycles — Biden's indecision had become something of a spectacle.

While his would-be rivals were out campaigning in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina, Biden was teasing Democrats with his scattered public appearances in friendly settings such as college campuses and union confabs. As declared candidates were raising money and hiring staff — those who weren't waiting for Biden to make up his mind — Biden was huddling with social media wizards to sharpen his skills in a medium outside his comfort zone.

Advisers, in the run-up to Biden's announcement, had tacitly discussed age as a liability. There also had been signals around his close-knit team that family — from wife Jill's appetite for a third White House campaign to a divorce involving his youngest son, Hunter — would be a factor in his decision. Biden, though, said his family was on board with a run during a late February appearance at the newly named Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. The "most important people in my life ... want me to run."

For Biden, the overarching question now may be: Can he unify progressive factions of the party and more pragmatic Democrats who see Biden or someone who shares his more-moderate tendencies as the best option for beating Donald Trump.



The Democratic Party and overall political environment that are much different than they were the last time Biden ran alone as a candidate in 2008. Then, his bipartisan nature and establishment-friendly bona fides were selling points. Now, he can find himself in trouble with merely a casual reference to Vice President Mike Pence — hated by many on the political left for his views on LGBT issues — as a "decent guy," as Biden did in February at the University of Nebraska Omaha. (The occasion allowed for Biden to try out his new social media savvy; he attempted a quick cleanup on Twitter, a rarity for him.)

There's also Biden's handling of Anita Hill's testimony when she accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during Supreme Court confirmation hearings he oversaw in 1991; his championing of a crime bill that has become a source of deep criticism for its handling of drug sentencing and policing in the intervening years; and his 2003 eulogy for segregationist Strom Thurmond. Running for president in 2020 could mean reckoning with all of these. Some Democrats have wondered aloud if it is time for a new generation to move into the fore.

Still, Biden's combination of longtime experience and broader appeal are unique — at a time when some Democrats argue the key is winning back a kind of middle-class, heartland voter who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and later became a Trump voter. He has stronger relationships with many Democrats in Washington than others running for president, something he's expected to try and bank on with a string of early endorsements. And he does have a string of progressive accomplishments to bring to the race, from being out front of the Obama administration on marriage equality to his work authoring the Violence Against Women Act.



Although in the wake of Clinton's 2016 defeat some argued he should have run, Biden has run for president twice — and neither campaign went well. In 1988, he left the race after facing accusations of plagiarism. In 2008, he ran again, found little traction, and ended up as Obama's running mate. Biden has signaled in recent weeks that he will align himself closely with the Obama era — even if the former president has shown no intention to endorse his old running mate.

"I'm an Obama-Biden Democrat, man," Biden said this month at the same event where he joked about his unwelcome touching, "and I'm proud of it."</s>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Joe Biden has formally entered the 2020 race for president.

The vice president under President Barack Obama made the announcement in a video released Thursday morning.

The move marks what will likely be the 76-year-old's final opportunity to seek a job he has eyed for more than a generation. He struggled in two previous campaigns.

One of the most recognizable names in U.S. politics, Biden leads most early Democratic primary polls. But as an older white man who spent a half-century in Washington, it's unclear if he will be embraced by today's increasingly liberal Democratic Party.

Biden faces myriad questions about his past, including recent claims he touched women in an overly familiar manner without their consent. Biden has pledged to be "much more mindful" of respecting personal space.</s>SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- New this morning former Vice President Joe Biden has launched his campaign for president in 2020.

Biden making the announcement like many do these days, in a video posted to social media.

This will now be Biden's third attempt at being commander in chief and at least for now, polling data has indicated he's the front runner in a packed Democratic field to gain the nomination.

He's also framing his campaign as a battle for the soul of our nation.

"But if we give Donald Trump 8 years in the white house he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are," Biden said.

Biden is thought of as more of a moderate Democrat, meaning he can appeal to both sides of the aisle, not like the majority of his competitors in the Democratic field who lean further left.

Many political pundits said Biden's biggest hurdles in winning the nomination are his age, saying he's out of touch with the current democratic party.

They also say his ability to fundraiser could get him into trouble down the line, as grassroots efforts are typically limited with a name as high profile as Biden.

As of now, President Trump has yet to tweet a response to Biden's announcement.

Western Mass News is continuing to follow this story and we’ll have further information as more details come into the newsroom.</s>Former Vice President Joe Biden officially launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, bringing to a halt months of speculation. Although he is widely known for his tight-knit relationship with President Obama during Mr. Obama's eight years in the White House, Biden served in Congress for nearly 35 years and ran two unsuccessful campaigns for president. His long career in public life has also been shaped by two family tragedies.

Here's everything you need to know about the 76-year-old lawmaker from Delaware and latest 2020 Democratic contender:

Biden was born in Scranton, a city in northeastern Pennsylvania, in late 1942, when the U.S. was fighting the Axis powers in World War II. In the 1950s, his family moved to Delaware, where he attended a private Catholic academy and eventually, the University of Delaware for his bachelor's degree in political science and history. After earning his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968, Biden worked for several law firms before being elected to a seat in the New Castle County Council.

After only a few years in that post, Biden decided to launch an underdog campaign for one of Delaware's Senate seats in 1972. Despite having little experience, he beat Sen. Caleb Boggs, a 12-year incumbent, in the general election.

His surprising victory, however, was overshadowed by tragedy. Biden lost his first wife, Neilla Hunter, and one-year-old daughter, Naomi, to a car accident days before Christmas in 1972. His sons, Beau and Hunter, were badly injured but survived. The grief reportedly prompted Biden to reconsider joining the Senate, but he decided to assume the position. At age 30, he was sworn in as one of the youngest U.S. senators in 1973 at the Wilmington Medical Center, where Beau was still recovering from his injuries.

During his long tenure in Congress, Biden solidified himself as one of the most influential members of the Senate, leading two of its most powerful panels, the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees, during different terms. He was considered a centrist Democrat who was willing to hash out bipartisan deals with Republicans.

During his time in Congress, Biden remarried and commuted to Washington, D.C. from his home in Delaware via Amtrak — so he could see his sons every night after they lost their mother and sister.

Biden also sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, dropping out during the primary in both. The one in 1988 was derailed by a plagiarism scandal while in 2008, he failed to gain much traction in the primary and made several gaffes on the campaign trail. After Biden dropped out of the 2008 race, Mr. Obama, at the time the Democratic Party's nominee, picked the Delaware senator to be his running mate.

After Mr. Obama's historic election, Biden resigned from the Senate to be sworn in as America's 47th vice president in 2009. Over the following eight years, Biden was a loyal advocate for Mr. Obama's policies and the two developed a strong friendship.

Along with being a valuable White House negotiator with congressional Republicans after the GOP took control of the House in 2011, he was tasked with overseeing administration efforts on infrastructure spending, sexual violence and cancer research — an area that became very personal for him.

In May 2015, his eldest son, Beau, died at age 46 after a battle with brain cancer. Beau's death was one of the reasons his father opted not to run for president in 2016, a decision he has repeatedly said he regrets.

With his announcement that he is seeking the Democratic nod for president in 2020, Biden is hoping to become the oldest president at the time of inauguration as well as the only Catholic president since John F. Kennedy.

Although he will be backed by major Democratic donors and many of the Democratic Party's top leadership, Biden will surely face some criticism from progressive Democrats for some of the positions and actions he took during his long career in the Senate.

In the 1970s, Biden opposed busing to desegregate public schools. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he oversaw the contentious Anita Hill hearings during the confirmation process for then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Progressives have denounced his handling of the hearing, alleging he did not do enough to empower Hill's testimony. Biden also helped spearhead efforts to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that many believe fueled a period of mass incarceration that disproportionately affected African-Americans and other minority groups.

Separately, Biden has come under scrutiny in recent weeks by several women who said he touched them inappropriately at events over the years. In a video earlier this month, he pledged to be more respectful of personal spaces, but stopped short of offering a full apology.

Biden was sharply critical of then-candidate Donald Trump on the 2016 campaign trail, where he stumped for Hillary Clinton. During Mr. Trump's time in the White House, the former vice president has consistently spoken out against the administration's policies and rhetoric. Last year, he told a crowd he would've "beat the hell out" of Mr. Trump because of his remarks about women if the two had been in high school together. The president responded by accusing Biden of trying to be a "tough guy."

Since reports have surfaced about Biden joining the 2020 race to challenge him, the president has called the former vice president a "sleepy" and non-threatening potential general election opponent

"I don't see Joe Biden as a threat," Mr. Trump told reporters earlier this month.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday formally announced his entry into the race for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination for the 2020 election.

“We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden said in a stark video released online, calling on voters to deny Republican U.S. President Donald Trump a second term in office.</s>Former Vice President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he’s entering the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, after months of speculation on whether he would run.

“The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America – America – is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States,” Biden said in a video posted just after 6 a. m.

Biden served 36 years in the Senate before becoming President Barack Obama’s vice president, in 2009. This is his third bid at the presidency.

Biden is currently leading the Democratic field which is crowded with several appealing candidates like Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke, all of which have been polling strongly, but Biden seems to be the most established of the candidates at this early stage of the race.

To many pundits, Biden’s advantage is that he is seen as a continuation of Barack Obama and that could mean that he could capture many of the Midwestern votes that Hillary Clinton failed to capture in 2016.</s>Updated at 6:20 a.m. ET

After months of oscillating speculation, followed by a long ramp up that drew out uncomfortable reassessments of his long public career, former Vice President Joe Biden has announced that he will run for president in 2020.

Biden made the announcement in a video released on Thursday. He's expected to head to Pittsburgh for a kickoff event next week, highlighting the focus the latest Democratic candidate places on winning back key states President Trump flipped in 2016.

Biden's announcement focuses on a "battle for the soul of this nation," with a dramatic video centered around the 2017 white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Va., and President Trump's response that there were "very fine people on both sides" after a counterprotester was killed.

"In that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime," Biden says in the video.

"I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time," Biden adds. "But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are — and I cannot stand by and watch that happen."

The 76-year-old former Delaware senator immediately becomes a top contender vying for the Democratic nomination, four years after passing on a bid for the White House in the wake of his son Beau's death. However, he will surely face questions about his age, past positions on policing and actions toward women in the wake of the #MeToo era. Biden is the 20th candidate to enter the Democratic primary race.

As Biden softened the ground to launch his campaign, he hit plenty of rocks. The potential candidacy was threatened recently by accusations of unwanted touching by several women. Biden has had to defend his "tactile" approach amid a major culture shift. A former Nevada Democratic candidate, Lucy Flores, came forward in March to say the former vice president had grabbed her shoulders from behind, sniffed her hair and then planted a kiss on the back of her head before a campaign event in 2014. Similar instances have been captured on video or photo as Biden performed official ceremonies and appeared at other events throughout the years.

Biden would eventually acknowledge that his behavior made others uncomfortable. He released a video message to say in part, "Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I've heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future."

Days later, Biden cracked a joke about the incidents during a speech to a union group. He told reporters afterwards that while he was "sorry that I didn't understand more," he also was "not sorry for my intentions" and "not sorry for anything I've ever done."

Biden hasn't hidden his presidential aspirations since leaving office in 2017 and didn't appear deterred by the controversies over the past several weeks either. He has visited early primary states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, and he campaigned on behalf of several Democratic candidates during the 2018 midterms. Part of that travel was because of his book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose, which reflected on Beau Biden's 2015 death from brain cancer at just 46 years old.

His son's passing would have been the major impediment for Biden in 2016 — prompting a very public struggle over whether he could put aside his grief for a grueling campaign. Ultimately, Biden decided he could not, and in a White House Rose Garden speech in October 2015, flanked by his wife, Jill, and President Barack Obama, announced he would not be a presidential candidate.

"As my family and I have worked through the grieving process, I've said all along what I've said time and again to others: That it may very well be that the process, by the time we get through it, closes the window," Biden said. "I've concluded it has closed."

If February, Biden revealed during an interview at the University of Delaware that his family is fully on board and that his wife, Jill, children Hunter and Ashley, and his grandchildren have "prodded" him to run.

"No matter who runs — it's a very difficult campaign," Biden told presidential historian Jon Meacham. "The primary will be very difficult. And the general election, running against President Trump, I don't think that he's likely to stop at anything, whomever he runs against."

Biden outlined his potential campaign message during appearances like that, as well as in a speech in March before a major firefighters union.

"We can't be defined — we're not able to be defined — by race, by religion, by tribe. We're defined by those enduring principles that are in the Constitution," Biden said, "that in America, everybody gets a shot. That's what the next president of the United States needs to understand, and that's what I don't think this current president understands at all."

It was clear during 2016 and beyond that Biden missed being a part of the political action. After watching Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lose to Donald Trump, Biden's criticism of the new president increased. Earlier this year, Biden said at a Florida rally that he would have taken Trump "behind the gym and beat the hell out of him" in high school. Biden later said he regretted the phrasing, but the president retorted that Biden "would not last long" in a fight with him.

This will be Biden's third run for president. His first try came in 1988, ending amid plagiarism revelations. In 2008, Biden failed to gain any traction in the primary, but Obama did choose him as a running mate, bringing international experience from his time leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, something the junior senator from Illinois lacked. Their unlikely pairing ended up building a famous friendship, and the two enjoyed a good rapport and working relationship while in the White House and after, referring to each other as a "brother."

Biden's four-decade tenure in the Senate will also come under a microscope. The Washington Post recently examined his opposition to busing in 1975 as schools were struggling to desegregate and found that he suggested that the government's role in integration should be limited. He has pushed for legislation to lengthen criminal drug sentences, which overwhelmingly affected minorities and have been revisited lately in new criminal justice reform efforts.

Biden's handling of confirmation hearings in 1991 for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has also come under new scrutiny in the wake of last year's controversial confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault. Thomas was accused by Anita Hill of sexual harassment, and Biden's handling of the process as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman has been criticized because of unanswered attacks against Hill and the fact that witnesses were not called who might have supported her story.

All those concerns amid questions about his conduct toward women — and that Biden would be almost 78 on Election Day 2020 and is a white male in a party with younger, more diverse and more progressive presidential candidates — are challenges for Biden's candidacy, even if many early polls show he is atop the field in large measure because he is so well-known.

Biden is popular with African American voters, a significant segment of the Democratic primary electorate. But with two high-profile black candidates in the race, California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, and his past record on criminal sentencing, Biden could face strong challenges for that voting bloc.

While he does bring strength in Rust Belt states that Trump was able to win, other candidates could offer similar assets such as Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. If voters indeed want someone of a newer generation, Biden could be challenged by many of the candidates, including former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke.</s>Biden pledged in an online video to be ‘much more mindful’ of respecting personal space

FILE - In this April 5, 2019, file photo, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the IBEW Construction and Maintenance Conference in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Former Vice-President Joe Biden formally joined the crowded Democratic presidential contest on Thursday, declaring the “soul of this nation” at stake if President Donald Trump wins re-election.

In a video posted on Twitter , Biden focused on the 2017 deadly clash between white supremacists and counter protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. Biden noted Trump’s comments that there were some “very fine people” on both sides of the violent encounter, which left one woman dead.

“We are in the battle for the soul of this nation,” Biden said. “If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House, he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation — who we are. And I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

The 76-year-old Biden becomes an instant front-runner alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is leading many polls and has proved to be a successful fundraiser . Biden has legislative and international experience that is unmatched in the Democratic field, and he is among the best-known faces in U.S. politics. He quickly racked up endorsements on Thursday morning, becoming the first Democrat running for president with the backing of more than one U.S. senator.

Still, Biden must compete in a field that now spans at least 20 Democrats and has been celebrated for its racial and gender diversity. As an older white man with occasionally centrist views, Biden has to prove he’s not out of step with his party.

He’s yet to outline his positions on the issues defining the 2020 Democratic primary, most notably “Medicare for All,” the universal health care plan authored by Sanders that has been adopted by virtually the entire Democratic field.

But the native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is betting that his working-class appeal and ties to Barack Obama’s presidency will help him win over progressive skeptics. Obama hasn’t explicitly endorsed Biden’s bid, but the former president took the unusual step of weighing in on Thursday’s announcement.

“President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made,” Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill said. “He relied on the vice-president’s knowledge, insight, and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today.”

Trump welcomed Biden to the campaign in a tweet calling him “Sleepy Joe.”

“I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign,” Trump said. “It will be nasty – you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate.”

Privately, Trump allies have warned that Biden might be the biggest re-election threat given the former vice-president’s potential appeal among the white working class in the Midwest, the region that gave Trump a path to the presidency.

Biden is paying special attention to his native Pennsylvania, a state that swung to Trump in 2016 after voting for Democratic presidential candidates for decades. While Biden represented Delaware in the Senate for 36 years, he was often referred to as Pennsylvania’s third senator.

The former vice-president will be in the state three times within the opening weeks of his campaign. He’ll be in Philadelphia on Thursday evening headlining a fundraiser at the home of David L. Cohen, executive senior vice-president of Comcast. Biden is aiming to raise $500,000 at the event.

He will hold his first public event as a 2020 presidential candidate in Pittsburgh on Monday. Then it’s off to Iowa, home of the leadoff nominating caucuses on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by two days in South Carolina. He’ll visit the other two early-voting states, Nevada and New Hampshire, in early May, before holding a major rally in Philadelphia.

Biden’s first media appearance is set for Friday morning on ABC’s “The View,” a move that may help him make an appeal to women whose support will be crucial to winning the primary.

As he neared his campaign launch, Biden’s challenges have come into greater focus.

He struggled last month to respond to claims that he touched 2014 Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores’ shoulders and kissed the back of her head before a fall campaign event. A handful of other women have made similar claims, though none has alleged sexual misconduct.

READ MORE: ‘He hugs everybody’: Women divided over defence of Biden

Biden, a former U.S. senator from Delaware, pledged in an online video to be “much more mindful” of respecting personal space but joked two days later that he “had permission” to hug a male union leader before addressing the group’s national conference.

Biden also has been repeatedly forced to explain his 1991 decision, as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, to allow Anita Hill to face difficult questions from an all-male panel about allegations of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who later was confirmed to the high court.

He has since apologized for his role in the hearing. But in the #MeToo era, particularly after the contentious confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the episode remains a significant political liability.

Likewise, Biden once played a key role in anti-crime legislation that had a disproportionately negative impact on African Americans. And while several 2020 Democratic contenders have embraced the possibility of reparations to African Americans for slavery in recent weeks, Biden last month struggled to explain comments he made as a freshman senator in 1975 about the school busing debate.

His first White House bid in 1988 ended after a plagiarism scandal. He dropped out of the 2008 race after earning less than 1% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses. Later that year, Obama named Biden as his running mate.

“This is very strong out of the chute. Well done. Biden just sucked the wind out of the sails for much of the field,” he said.

But he noted that announcement bumps fade and said Biden still has “to campaign the same aggressive way for the next nine months.”

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Julie Pace in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Steve Peoples And Thomas Beaumont, The Associated Press

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Former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden announces he is running for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.