WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Joe Biden’s reluctance to enter the presidential race centers on his family. His wife, Jill, has never relished political life and is said to share his misgivings about whether the Bidens are emotionally equipped for another campaign.
Those close to the second lady say she won’t stand in the way of her husband’s political ambitions, but her feelings about a White House bid are a major factor in Biden’s decision. Only three months after losing their son, Beau, to brain cancer, the 72-year-old Biden appeared somber and weary at an Atlanta synagogue Thursday night as he pondered his family’s readiness. “The honest-to-God answer is I just don’t know,” he said.
While the vice president’s deliberations have played out in semi-public fashion, Jill Biden has remained almost entirely out of sight. She has yet to discuss in detail with her staff her views on a possible presidential run. But she has been looking out for her husband and echoing his concerns about whether he can completely devote himself to a hard-fought campaign, according to several people who have spoken to her in recent weeks.
Some of these people demanded anonymity because they didn’t feel comfortable publicly discussing the family’s private deliberations.
Sonia Sloan, a Biden family friend since the 1970s who volunteered for his past campaigns, said she saw the Bidens at a mutual friend’s funeral a few weeks ago and that their grief was “just written all over them.”