--- title: Joe Biden Encourages House Democrats in Emotional Speech description: Joe Biden spoke to House Democrats in an emotional meeting, urging them to tout their achievements and campaign against Republicans canonical: https://time.com/4198938/joe-biden-emotional-speech-house-democrats/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-28T22:29:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:33:06.527Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Encourages House Democrats in Emotional Speech og:description: Joe Biden spoke to House Democrats in an emotional meeting, urging them to tout their achievements and campaign against Republicans og:url: https://time.com/4198938/joe-biden-emotional-speech-house-democrats/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735a47a54aef1bc2/69887b2e0a4a2215be9c81fa/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Preparations For The World Economic Forum (WEF) 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Encourages House Democrats in Emotional Speech twitter:description: Joe Biden spoke to House Democrats in an emotional meeting, urging them to tout their achievements and campaign against Republicans twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt735a47a54aef1bc2/69887b2e0a4a2215be9c81fa/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Gives Emotional Election Pep Talk to Discouraged Democrats > 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 [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 28, 2016 10:29 PM UTC  Vice President Biden speaks during a panel session on cancer research, treatment and data science in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2016. Vice President Biden speaks during a panel session on cancer research, treatment and data science in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2016. Jason Alden—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 28, 2016 10:29 PM UTC Vice President Joe Biden [spoke to House Democrats in an emotional meeting](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/01/28/in-emotional-meeting-biden-tells-down-and-out-democrats-get-up-man/) on Thursday, urging them to tout their achievements and campaign against the policies of [new House Speaker Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4153898/paul-ryan-house-speaker/). The Washington _Post_ reported that Biden spoke at the meeting aimed at plotting a strategy for 2016 elections. “We didn’t do it enough last time. The best way to win is to run on what we’ve done and what we stand for, and run on what more we are trying to do, make it clear what we think we have to do to finish the agenda,” Biden told Democrats, according to the _Post_. Biden said he thinks Democrats will win control of the Senate this year and have a chance at taking the House. The party has held a minority of the seats in the House since 2011 and in the Senate since 2015. “All kidding aside, folks, it’s been a tough last couple cycles. But we should get up, man. There’s a real shot,” he said. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi described it as one of the most “emotional” scenes she’s witnessed. \[[Read more in the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/01/28/in-emotional-meeting-biden-tells-down-and-out-democrats-get-up-man/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4198938/joe-biden-emotional-speech-house-democrats/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4198938/joe-biden-emotional-speech-house-democrats/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Gives Emotional Election Pep Talk to Discouraged Democrats","datePublished":"2016-01-28T22:29:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:33:06.527Z","description":"\"We should get up, man. 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