Sen. Chris Coons, the Delaware Democrat who holds the Senate seat once occupied by former Vice President Joe Biden, is "very optimistic" Biden will join the 2020 race for the president and seek to "heal the divisions in our country."
"I'm very optimistic that Joe Biden will soon formally announce his campaign for the presidency," Coons told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
"When he said last night to a cheering crowd of Democrats in Dover, Delaware that he had the most progressive record of anyone running or who might run, what I think he was referring to was the very real record of the Obama-Biden administration of tackling climate change, of advancing rights for the LGBTQ community, of reigning in Wall Street, and of enacting the broadest expansion of access to healthcare of any administration in our lifetimes.
"That's the sort of real progressive record of accomplishment that Joe Biden could run on, and I hope will run on."
Biden had a verbal slip during a speech Saturday night, appearing to confirm he is running for president before rephrasing his remark. Recent reports suggest he is on the verge of announcing his candidacy.
Coons, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, added that Biden would attempt to heal the divided United States. He accused Trump of exploiting those divides for political purposes.
"One of the most despicable things about President Trump's campaign and his actions as president has been the ways in which he has seen the divisions in our country and tried to crack them open more widely for his own partisan, political advantage," Coons said. "Joe Biden … will see the divisions in our country and inspire us to heal them. To work together across them, and move us into a better future as a country for all of us."
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