--- title: Why Barack Obama Won't Endorse Biden for President description: Ex-President Barack Obama is holding off endorsing his former running mate, Joe Biden, who just announced his campaign to be president. canonical: https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-25T13:58:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:49.743Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Obama Won't Endorse His Former Vice President Joe Biden (at Least for Now) og:description: Biden’s campaign staff is full of Obama administration alumni og:url: https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c300bb6d5edf8ec/698949034ee2624cf43146ab/obama-not-endorse-biden-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Obama Gives Tribute To VP Biden In The State Dining Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Obama Won't Endorse His Former Vice President Joe Biden (at Least for Now) twitter:description: Biden’s campaign staff is full of Obama administration alumni twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c300bb6d5edf8ec/698949034ee2624cf43146ab/obama-not-endorse-biden-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Obama Won't Endorse His Former Vice President Joe Biden (at Least for Now) > 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. ## Video: Joe Biden For President: America Is An Idea [Watch (HLS stream): Joe Biden For President: America Is An Idea](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nALFn5is.m3u8) (3:30)  _Published 2019-04-25. Joe Biden For President: America Is An Idea_ by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor Apr 25, 2019 1:58 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Vice-President Joe Biden during an event in the State Dinning room of the White House, January 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. Obama is holding off endorsing his former running mate, Joe Biden, who on April 25, 2019 joined the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Vice-President Joe Biden during an event in the State Dinning room of the White House, January 12, 2017 in Washington, DC. Obama is holding off endorsing his former running mate, Joe Biden, who on April 25, 2019 joined the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.Olivier Douliery-Pool—Getty Images by [Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg Contributor Apr 25, 2019 1:58 PM UTC Ex-President Barack Obama is holding off on an endorsement of his former running mate, Joe Biden, who on Thursday joined the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He did, though, voice support for the former vice president in a statement timed to Biden’s announcement. “President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made,” Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill said. “He relied on the vice president’s knowledge, insight, and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today,” Hill added. Obama’s endorsement would have been a boost for Biden, whose candidacy draws on the warm feelings that many Democrats have for the eight years the pair spent in the White House. It would also have been seen as an effort by Obama to clear out a crowded primary field that also includes one of his former cabinet secretaries – without giving voters a chance to decide for themselves at the polls. A source familiar with Obama’s thinking said that he’s not planning to endorse anyone during the early stages of the primary process, in part because he believes that his experience battling for the 2008 nomination made him a better candidate and president. Obama, then the sitting president, waited until voting in the 2016 primaries had ended before endorsing Hillary Clinton. Still, Biden isn’t shying away from his Obama ties, recently referring to himself as an ‘Obama-Biden Democrat.’ A photo collage posted Thursday on his Instagram account includes an image of the two standing in the Oval Office. Biden’s campaign staff is full of Obama administration alumni – many of whom spent at least some of their time working for Biden – though there are also scores of former Obama officials who have said publicly and privately that they are looking to other candidates. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/"},"headline":"Why Obama Won't Endorse His Former Vice President Joe Biden (at Least for Now)","datePublished":"2019-04-25T13:58:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:49.743Z","description":"Biden’s campaign staff is full of Obama administration alumni","url":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/","keywords":["2020 Election","Barack Obama","Bloomberg","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c300bb6d5edf8ec/698949034ee2624cf43146ab/obama-not-endorse-biden-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Epstein / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c300bb6d5edf8ec/698949034ee2624cf43146ab/obama-not-endorse-biden-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Gives Tribute To VP Biden In The State Dining Room","caption":"Ex-President Barack Obama is holding off endorsing his former running mate, Joe Biden, who just announced his campaign to be president.","creditText":"Olivier Douliery-Pool—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/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/","name":"Why Obama Won't Endorse His Former Vice President Joe Biden (at Least for Now)"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Joe Biden For President: America Is An Idea","description":"Joe Biden For President: America Is An Idea","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nALFn5is/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-04-25T10:17:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nALFn5is.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/","duration":"PT3M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5577983/obama-not-endorse-biden-president/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```