Joe Biden will not run for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 White House race.
The 72-year-old vice-president said his family was ready after the death of his son, Beau Biden, earlier this year, but he had now run out of time.
He also said it would be a mistake for Democrats to turn their backs on President Barack Obama’s record.
Democrats seeking an alternative to frontrunner Hillary Clinton had been urging Joe Biden to run.
Though he will not be a candidate, Joe Biden said he “will not be silent”.
“I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully on where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation.”
Joe Biden said any candidate would be making a “tragic mistake” to reject the Obama legacy, and urged an end to political bickering.
“I believe we have to end the divisive, partisan politics ripping apart this country,” he said as he stood in the Rose Garden of the White House, flanked by his wife Jill and President Barack Obama.
Repeating a dig at Hillary Clinton that he has made several times this week, he said it was wrong to see Republicans as enemies.
When asked at last week’s Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton said she was proud of making an enemy out of Republicans.
In explaining his decision not to join the race, after three months pondering it, Joe Biden said his family had “reached a point” where they felt they could cope with his third presidential run, but time was now against him.
Beau Biden died from brain cancer in May, another family tragedy for the former Delaware senator after the deaths of his baby daughter and first wife in 1972.
Joe Biden then rose through the Senate ranks and ran for president in 1988 and 2008.
After hearing the news, presidential candidates for 2016 tweeted their well wishes.
Bernie Sanders also tweeted that he supported Joe Biden’s plans to make college free, fight economic inequality and close tax loopholes.
Democratic candidate Martin O’ Malley tweeted that he respected Joe Biden’s decision and that he is “one of the most decent, compassionate public servants our nation has produced”.
According to a recent Bloomberg Poll, Vice President Joe Biden tops presidential choice for one in four Americans who are registered Democrats or lean.
The poll findings released on September 23 represent a notable achievement for an as-yet undeclared candidate, suggest concerns about Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and raise the prospect of a competitive three-way race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bloomberg reports.
According to the national poll, Hillary Clinton is now the top choice of 33% of registered Democrats and those who lean Democrat.
Joe Biden places second with 25% and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is at 24%. The other three Democratic candidates combined are the top choice for less than 4% of that base.
Recent polls in states that will host the earliest contests of the presidential campaign, Iowa and New Hampshire, have shown Bernie Sanders closing in on and, in some cases, surpassing Hillary Clinton with Joe Biden in a more distant third place.
As Hillary Clinton’s numbers have dropped, Joe Biden has been openly mulling a late entry into the race.
However, Joe Biden is delaying a decision to allow himself and his family an opportunity to grieve the death of his son, Beau, to brain cancer.
Vice-President Joe Biden says he does not know if he has the “emotional energy” to run for president in 2016.
Joe Biden, 72, said at a foreign policy lecture in Atlanta: “I can’t look you straight in the eye and say now, <<I know I can do it>>.”
The Democrat lost his son, Beau Biden, to cancer earlier this year.
The media have watched and waited for weeks for a hint that Joe Biden will challenge the Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton.
He told those gathered in Atlanta: “The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run. The factor is, can I do it?
“The honest to God answer is I just don’t know.”
Some Democrats have urged Joe Biden to run as Hillary Clinton’s campaign appears to be struggling with questions over her use of emails when she was Secretary of State.
Joe Biden failed in his bids for the White House in 1988 and 2008 before becoming Barack Obama’s running mate.
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