Bill de Blasio: Biden shouldn’t enter 2016 race

by TheHill.com - 09/10/15 7:15 PM ET

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Thursday said Democrats don’t need any more presidential candidates, pushing back on a potential bid from Vice President Biden.

“Joe Biden is a great human being. I think he’s done extraordinary things for this nation. And I also have to say, on a human level, I think we’ve all been grieving with him over these last weeks,” de Blasio told NY1’s Errol Louis in an interview airing Thursday night.

{mosads}However, de Blasio added, “If you’re talking about the state of the presidential race, I think it’s pretty straightforward, we have a very impressive group of Democratic candidates right now. I don’t think we need additional candidates.”

The liberal mayor’s advice for Biden to not enter the 2016 fray to challenge front-runner Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination comes on the same day Biden appeared in New York alongside Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to push for a higher minimum wage.

Cuomo endorsed Clinton after she announced her presidential campaign in April, while de Blasio has refused to support her until she outlines a more detailed “vision” for her bid.

“I think the candidates we have are really putting forward the issues, putting forward very bold solutions,” de Blasio said Thursday.

Biden has been publicly mulling another White House bid for weeks and is road-testing a possible campaign message with a series of speeches in recent days, including in the swing states of Florida and Pennsylvania after a recent trip to South Carolina, an early-voting state.

Tags Bill de Blasio Joe Biden