Joe Biden Regrets Not Running for President

The former vice president believes he had a good chance of becoming president.

Yezmin Villarreal

Yezmin Villarreal is the former news editor for The Advocate. Her work has also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Mic, LA Weekly, Out Magazine and The Fader.

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Yezmin Villarreal

March 25 2017 2:14 PM EST

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Former Vice President Joe Biden said Friday during a speech at Colgate University in New York that he regretted not running for the presidency in 2016 because he was "the best qualified."

"I had planned on running for president and although it would have been a very difficult primary, I think I could have won," said Biden. "Maybe not, I don't know."

"I was fairly confident that if I had become the Democratic nominee, I would have had a good chance to be president," said Biden, as first reported by The Hill.

"Do I regret not being president? Yes," said the former vice president. "I was the best qualified."

The former vice president said he was unable to run because he "lost part of [his] soul" when he lost his son Beau Biden. Since he was dealing with the grief of losing his son, he said he wasn't able to focus his whole attention on the election, and that he doesn't look back negatively on the fact that he spent more time with his family at the time.