--- title: Biden: Age Would Be 'Legitimate Issue' In Presidential Run description: Former Vice President Joe Biden, 75, said his age would be a "legitimate issue" were he to run in 2020. canonical: https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-18T13:28:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:46:57.437Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden, 75, Says His Age Would Be a 'Legitimate Issue' If He Runs for President og:description: "They're gonna judge me on my vitality" og:url: https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt105555ac628dcd66/69893ce822fb85afe2e26eda/joe-biden-age-presidential-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Biden Cancer Summit Welcome Reception og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden, 75, Says His Age Would Be a 'Legitimate Issue' If He Runs for President twitter:description: "They're gonna judge me on my vitality" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt105555ac628dcd66/69893ce822fb85afe2e26eda/joe-biden-age-presidential-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden, 75, Says His Age Would Be a 'Legitimate Issue' If He Runs for President > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 18, 2018 1:28 PM UTC  Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Biden Cancer Summit Welcome Reception at Intercontinental Hotel on September 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Biden Cancer Summit Welcome Reception at Intercontinental Hotel on September 20, 2018 in Washington, DC. Paul Morigi—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Oct 18, 2018 1:28 PM UTC Joe Biden, who this week [led a poll](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/16/democratic-candidates-poll-2020/1656532002/) as the top Democratic choice to challenge President Trump in 2020, said it’s too early to think presidential polls – but said his age will be a factor in deciding whether to run for president. “I don’t think about polling data,” the former Vice President [told CBS This Morning Thursday](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-explains-how-he-will-decide-whether-to-run-for-president-2020/). “I think about whether I should run based on very private decisions relating to my family and the loss of my son and what I want to do with the rest of my life. But I don’t think of it in terms of can I win, can I – will I lose. That’s not part of the calculation.” Biden, 75, added that his age would be a “legitimate issue” were he to run in 2020\. Trump, 72, will turn 74 before the 2020 election. “I think people are going to judge it, if I were to run” Biden said. “I think they’re going to judge me on my vitality. Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.” Biden echoed a statement he made earlier in the week during a Q&A at the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan Speaker Series on Tuesday, [CNN reports](https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/politics/biden-age-legitimate-issue/index.html). “I think age is a totally legitimate thing to raise,” he said. “I think it’s totally appropriate for people to look at me and say if I were to run for office again, ‘Well God darn you’re old.’ Well, chronologically, I am old.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/"},"headline":"Joe Biden, 75, Says His Age Would Be a 'Legitimate Issue' If He Runs for President","datePublished":"2018-10-18T13:28:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:46:57.437Z","description":"\"They're gonna judge me on my vitality\"","url":"https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/","keywords":["Joe Biden","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt105555ac628dcd66/69893ce822fb85afe2e26eda/joe-biden-age-presidential-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt105555ac628dcd66/69893ce822fb85afe2e26eda/joe-biden-age-presidential-race.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Biden Cancer Summit Welcome Reception","caption":"Biden Cancer Summit Welcome Reception","creditText":"Paul Morigi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/joe-biden/","name":"Joe Biden"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5428374/joe-biden-age-presidential-run/","name":"Joe Biden, 75, Says His Age Would Be a 'Legitimate Issue' If He Runs for President"}}]}] ```