--- description: While on the campaign trail in Iowa, Joe Biden got into a heated exchange with a man and challenged him to do push-ups with him. title: Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf31c223cde49fdd5/698a070b096a94612f6a7671/GettyImages-1191546574.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange by [Josiah Bates](/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Dec 5, 2019 10:55 PM CUT  ALGONA, IOWA - DECEMBER 02: Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at the Water's Edge Nature Center on December 2, 2019 in Algona, Iowa. The stop was part of Biden's 650-mile "No Malarkey" campaign bus trip through rural Iowa. The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses will take place on February 3, 2020, making it the first nominating contest for the Democratic Party in choosing their presidential candidate to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election. ALGONA, IOWA - DECEMBER 02: Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at the Water's Edge Nature Center on December 2, 2019 in Algona, Iowa. The stop was part of Biden's 650-mile "No Malarkey" campaign bus trip through rural Iowa. The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses will take place on February 3, 2020, making it the first nominating contest for the Democratic Party in choosing their presidential candidate to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election.Getty Images—2019 Getty Images by [Josiah Bates](/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Dec 5, 2019 10:55 PM CUT Former Vice President [Joe Biden](https://time.com/tag/joe-biden/ "undefined") got into a tense exchange with a man during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday that included the Democratic Presidential candidate challenging him to do push-ups alongside him. Biden made the remark after the man told the 77-year-old candidate he believed him to be too old to become President. “Look, the reason I’m running is because I’ve been around a long time and I know more than most people know and I can get things done,” Biden responded. “That’s why I’m running. You want to check my shape, let’s do push-ups together. Let’s run. Let’s do whatever you want to do.” Biden’s comment was part of a larger exchange that also included the man claiming Biden “sent” his son to work in [Ukraine](https://time.com/tag/ukraine/ "undefined"), and accusing the former Vice President of “selling access to the President.” Biden responded by calling the man “a damn liar,” adding “no one has ever said that.” [President Trump](https://time.com/tag/donald-trump/ "undefined") is currently facing a [House impeachment inquiry](https://time.com/5744533/pelosi-articles-of-impeachment/ "undefined") over claims that he withheld aid to Ukraine while pressuring the country to investigate the Bidens. Although Biden’s son Hunter Biden did hold a position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, claims about corruption have been debunked. On Thursday, the man ended the tense exchange by saying that it looks like the former Vice President doesn’t “have anymore backbone than Trump does” and that he wasn’t going to vote for Biden. “I knew you weren’t, man,” Biden shot back. “You’re too old to vote for me.” Symone Sanders, a senior advisor to the Biden campaign, later addressed the exchange on Twitter, saying that the man’s “facts were flat-out wrong.” > [](https://twitter.com/SymoneDSanders/status/1202666372012105729) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5745015/biden-iowa-man-push-ups/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5745015/biden-iowa-man-push-ups/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange","datePublished":"2019-12-05T22:55:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:52:13.791Z","description":"Biden also called the man a 'damn liar' after comments about his son","url":"https://time.com/5745015/biden-iowa-man-push-ups/","keywords":["Iowa","2020","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf31c223cde49fdd5/698a070b096a94612f6a7671/GettyImages-1191546574.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josiah Bates","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf31c223cde49fdd5/698a070b096a94612f6a7671/GettyImages-1191546574.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Continues \"No Malarkey\" Bus Tour Through Iowa","caption":"Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Continues \"No Malarkey\" Bus Tour Through Iowa","creditText":"Getty Images—2019 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/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5745015/biden-iowa-man-push-ups/","name":"Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange"}}]}] ```