Vice President Joe Biden on Not Running For President: 'I Regret it Every Day'

Biden still feels it was the right decision to not run, however

Published on January 7, 2016 01:00PM EST

As the 2016 presidential primaries rapidly approach, Vice President Joe Biden is looking back on his decision to not run for the presidency with remorse.

The 73-year-old told NBC Connecticut of opting out of the election: “I regret it every day.” “But it was the right decision for my family and me,” he contended.

Biden initially announced in October that he would not be seeking the Democratic nomination.

While Biden’s hat isn’t in the ring, he told NBC Connecticut he plans to stay “deeply involved” with the Democratic party’s candidates.

“There’s real robust debate between Hillary [Clinton] and Bernie [Sanders],” Biden said. “As there would’ve been if I was in the race.”

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The Vice President said in October that he was opting not to run because his family was still mourning the loss of Beau Biden. Beau, Biden’s oldest son, died in May after a battle with brain cancer.

Later, Biden elaborated on the choice, telling 60 Minutes, “It’s the right decision for the family.”

He added, “Look, dealing with the loss of Beau, any parent listening who’s lost a child, knows that you can’t – it doesn’t follow schedules of primaries and caucuses and contributors … everybody grieves at a different pace.”

The devastating loss of his son at age 46 came four decades after Biden’s first wife Neilia and 1-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a horrifying car crash. Beau and younger brother Hunter were both in the car, as well, but survived.

Biden’s newest crusade is in Beau’s honor – he is “meeting with every center of power within the cancer world” in the hopes of finally finding a cure.

He told Bloomberg Politics in December that he wants to make cancer research a national priority.