Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden says he has had serious discussions with young, qualified people capable of becoming leaders over the next 16 years, reports The Hill.
"There are a number of people like you, and I'm not being a wise guy, who have been helping me, they're serious people who I've had discussions with about . . . asking them are they willing to come into a government if I get elected," Biden said during a virtual fundraiser Friday night, according to a pool report of his remarks.
"And one of the ways to deal with age is to build a bench — to build a bench of younger, really qualified people who haven't had the exposure that others have had, but are fully capable of being the leaders of the next four, eight, 12, 16 years to run the country. But they've got to have an opportunity to rise up."
Older voters have easily carried Biden to victory in multiple primaries, but a lack of turnout by young voters could prove to be a liability in the general election.
The former vice president has a near-insurmountable lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but has not yet secured the number of delegates needed to claim the Democratic nomination.
"At the end of the day, the people who will join my Cabinet — God-willing, if I become the president, it's almost presumptuous talking about it a little bit — will be people who represent the spectrum of our party and who look like the country," he said. "There's a lot of really, really qualified people who I think have the same view that I have, which is it's not about going back to 2008 or 2012. It's about moving ahead significantly."