Joe Biden’s sister says he will run for second term

He would be the first Octogenarian president if he wins and begins in 2024 at age 82

Joe Biden’s sister says that the projected president-elect would run for a second term, as speculation begins on how long the 77-year-old would remain in office.

Mr Biden will be 78 when taking office in 2021, and the first Octogenarian president if he wins and begins a second term at age 82. He would be 86 if he left office after two full terms.

Even before the election results are formally certified and the 46th president is sworn in, the Democrats are facing questions on whether Mr Biden would step aside for the projected vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, to assume the top job before the 2024 election.

Read more: Joe Biden wins the 2020 US election - follow live updates 

When asked if Mr Biden, who has previously referred to himself as a "transition candidate",  would run for a second term, sister Valerie Biden Owens said in an interview with Axios on HBO he "absolutely" would.

"He's transitional in that he's bringing in all these young people and bringing [us] back again [so] we're not a divided country ... But sure. He's going strong," she said.

At a campaign fundraiser in June, Mr Biden said he would pick promising talent on his team that were "ready to go in".

“I view myself as a transition candidate,” he said. "You got to get more people on the bench that are ready to go in — ‘Put me in coach, I’m ready to play.’ Well, there’s a lot of people that are ready to play, women and men.”

Mr Biden has been forced to deny reports in Politico that he was planning to step aside and not seek re-election due to his age and continued criticisms of his infamous "verbal gaffes".

"I don't have plans on one term,” Biden told reporters between campaign stops in Nevada. "I'm not even there yet.”

During the election campaign, Donald Trump made Mr Biden's advanced age an election issue by suggesting the Democrats' plan for a 25th Amendment commission to evaluate presidential fitness was a plot to install Ms Harris in the White House.

“Crazy Nancy Pelosi is looking at the 25th Amendment in order to replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris,” Mr Trump tweeted.

“The Dems want that to happen fast because Sleepy Joe is out of it!!!”

Ms Biden Owens said that there was no point in her brother "forgiving" the president and that he planned on ignore such distractions from Mr Trump  

"He's never going to see Donald Trump again," she said.

"Donald Trump is going off the stage on January 20th and that's history, that's past. Joe's not going to talk about Donald Trump. Who cares?"