Beau Biden, Son Of U.S. VP, To Run For Governor Of Delaware

[April 18, 2014]  By Victoria Cavaliere

(Reuters) — At least one member of the Biden family will be seeking higher office in 2016.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, said on Thursday he plans to run for governor of the Mid-Atlantic state.

In a message to voters posted on his website, Biden, a Democrat like his father, said he would not be seeking re-election to a third term as Delaware attorney general.

"After careful consideration, I have concluded that it is not right to ask for your support in 2014, knowing that my focus would be divided between doing my job as attorney general while at the same time running as a candidate for governor," he said.

Biden, 45, will be seeking the seat held by Democratic Governor Jack Markell, 53, who will leave office after serving two terms.

Biden's announcement comes as his father continues to mull a possible run for the U.S. presidency in 2016. The elder Biden said he would announce his plans in the next year.

Beau Biden was elected attorney general in 2006, and in 2010, he decided not to run for the U.S. Senate seat from Delaware once held by his father.

He served a yearlong tour in Iraq as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard and underwent surgery at a cancer center in Texas last year. He suffered a mild stroke in 2010.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; editing by G. Crosse and Scott Malone)

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