Draft Biden group will not air emotional ad

by Bradford Richardson and Jesse Byrnes - 10/08/15 6:20 PM ET

A super-PAC trying to draw Vice President Biden into the 2016 presidential race says it will not air an ad that discusses the death of his first wife and daughter.

The group Draft Biden says it respects the vice president’s wishes and will refrain from running the spot on television.

{mosads}“Nobody has more respect for the Vice President and his family than we do,” Josh Alcorn, senior adviser to the group, said in a statement to The Hill. “Obviously, we will honor his wishes.”

On Wednesday, the group released a 90-second video that recounts the fatal 1972 car accident that claimed the lives of Biden’s wife and infant daughter.

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that Biden did not want the ad to air.

“The vice president appreciates that they are trying to help,” a source close to Biden said. “But he has seen the ad and thinks the ad treads on sacred ground and hopes they don’t run it.”

The group had reportedly lined up more than $100,000 to promote the spot.

Top Democratic strategist David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama who worked with Biden in the White House, called the ad “tasteless” and “powerful, but exploitative” Wednesday.

The video spot, titled “My Redemption,” also features a speech Biden gave weeks before the death of his eldest son, Beau, in May.

Biden is currently mulling a presidential run but has questioned whether he has the emotional stamina needed to campaign following the death of his son.

Tags Joe Biden