Joe Biden announces presidential bid for 2020 election

Former US Vice President Joe Biden
Joe Biden

Former US Vice-President Joe Biden has declared a presidential bid, ending months of speculation.

The 76-year-old announced his bid in a video on Thursday.

In the video, Biden warned that the “core values of the nation… our very democracy, everything that has made America America, is at stake.”

Biden also said: “I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time. 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.”

Biden will now compete for the Democratic Party’s ticket with other hopefuls, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders.

The former Vice-President was expected to contest for the top seat in 2016 but he ruled himself out after the death of his 46-year-old son, Beau Biden, from a brain tumour.