President Trump is concerned about the prospect of running against former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020, fearing that he is the Democrat most capable of reaching his base of white working-class voters, Axios reported Wednesday.
Advisers to the president tell Axios that Biden, 75, is seen as the potential Democratic challenger to Trump most likely to put up a fierce fight in states that Trump won in 2016, like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump also considers Biden a potential threat because of what he sees as an otherwise weak set of rumored challengers, like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Axios reported.
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To be sure, Biden has not said yet whether he intends to challenge Trump in 2020. But he has repeatedly been floated as a potential contender and has left the door open to a presidential bid.
Biden, a former senator from Delaware, has long touted his hometown of Scranton, Pa., as a symbol of his working-class upbringing.
That could ultimately make areas of Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh more competitive. Trump campaigned fervently across the state in 2016 and relies heavily on support from more suburban and rural areas, Axios reported.
The news outlet reports that Biden will wade more heavily into electoral politics in the fall by appearing with candidates across the country on a weekly basis and issuing a series of endorsements.