Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday launched a political action committee, American Possibilities PAC, announcing that "thinking big is stamped into the DNA of the American soul."
The New York Times called the 74-year-old Democrat's move "the most concrete sign yet that he intends to remain active in the Democratic Party and is considering a presidential bid in 2020." Publications such as Politico, CNN, the Associated Press, and others speculated the PAC could be a sign that he is preparing to run.
Biden has described the PAC's goals as more general than a launching pad for a 2020 presidential run.
"It's time for big dreams and American possibilities," he said in a statement. "If that's what you believe—and you're ready to help elect folks who believe that, and to support groups and causes that embody that spirit—then I'm asking you to join me today."
The former vice president's wife, Jill Biden, said, "He set up this PAC because he's going to be involved in the [2018] midterm elections."
Whatever the PAC's ultimate goals are, Joe Biden's statements indicate they are large in scope.
"It's time to reach deep into the soul of this country," he said, "and once again give everyone—and I mean everyone—the opportunity to achieve the impossible."
Political commentators and media outlets raised the possibility of Biden running to succeed former President Barack Obama in the run-up to the 2016 campaign. After a period of deliberation following the death of his son, Beau, Biden decided not to run against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
At the time of his announcement not to run for president in 2016, he also expressed broad goals for his involvement in politics.
"I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation," Biden said in 2015.