Vice president Joe Biden said in an interview with an NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut, that he regretted his decision to turn down a run for the White House for 2016.
But, he added, his family obligations demanded he quit the political aspiration and in that respect, he's not sorry for his decision, WVIT reported.
"I regret it every day," he said, the Hill reported, "but it was the right decision for my family and for me and I plan on staying deeply involved."
Biden has not spoken of his decision to not run for the high office in so regretful of tone, at least on the public stage. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, he admitted his choice was tough, but doubled down on saying "it was the right decision."
He went on to the news outlet: "I believed I could win, but that's not enough. I know myself. And I know it takes time."
Biden's decision on a White House run was played out on the national scale for months, as a long-running tease in which pundits would back-and-forth guess his next move. Ultimately, Biden – who was still grieving the death of his son, Beau, from brain cancer – announced he wasn't running, but still staying politically active, in a widely watched and somewhat rambling speech from the White House that took minutes to reach his main point.
Biden hasn't yet endorsed a candidate for president in the Democratic Party. Still in the running are Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley.
"We've got two good candidates," Biden said, seeming to leave out O'Malley.
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