Ahead of super tuesday, former Vice President joe biden received the endorsement of pete buttigieg, who suspended his president ial campaign over the weekend. The former south bend, indiana mayor spoke about his decision to endorse while appearing with joe biden at a restaurant in dallas. All right. We are so fortunate, besides the great chicken here at chicken express [laughter] to have two great guests tonight. Somebody that we love and honor. Mayor pete, youre the best. I worked with him. [applause] thank you. Pete it is a treat to be with mayor rawlings and mayor adler, great friends of our campaign, and it is an honor to be here with Vice President biden. When i ran for president , we made it clear that the whole idea was about rallying the country together to defeat donald trump and win for the values we share. That was always a goal that was much bigger than me becoming president , and it is in the name of that very same goal that i am delighted to endorse and support joe biden for president. [applause] and i do it with great pleasure, knowing just how much we need to do not only to win, which is so very important and when i say win, not just win back the white house but bring those vitally important house, senate, and local races with us. But also, weve got to do it in a way that starts to change the toxic, divisive nature of our politics right now. We cant go on like this. And weve got a politics right now that makes it sound like being the loudest is tantamount to being right. We need a politics thats about decency, a politics that brings back dignity, and that is what we sought to practice in my campaign. That is what joe biden has been practicing his entire life. So what we see right now is an opportunity, not just to meet that imperative of getting a new and better president , but doing it with a leader who will practice that way of rallying people together, with ideas that are big enough to unite the american people. Of all generations. [laughter] and if you think about it, on some of the most important issues affecting my generation and the next generation climate change, gun violence joe biden has been delivering on those very priorities. From taking on the nra and winning to negotiating the Paris Climate Accord to shepherding the passage of the Affordable Care act, this is what has made it possible for us to achieve what has been achieved, and that is why i have such confidence that, as president , joe biden will take the ball further as it needs to go. But it is even more than that. Its the need to bring back dignity to the white house. [applause] [cheers] and the country already knows without me having to say so, but i want you to know how unbelievably and unfailingly decent ive known Vice President biden to be. From his visits to south bend while he was Vice President to my visit as a mayor to the white house during the Obamabiden Administration to, perhaps especially, the experiences ive had getting to know him while competing with him. Hes somebody of such extraordinary grace and kindness and empathy. From taking time to talk to somebody who struggles to speak to taking time for a family struggling with loss, he will bring the exact empathy that is so badly lacking in this white house and, along the way, in his campaign, will draw us together as we need a leader to do. I commented last night and have often said that politics, at its best, is more than policy. So its fitting im joining a campaign to speak so often about the soul of this nation. I dont believe the world is divided up into people who are all good or all bad. I dont believe how you voted in the past makes you good or bad. I believe that each of us can have good things and bad things brought out of us, and that is why leadership is so important. Im looking for a leader. Im looking for a president who will draw out what is best in each of us. And im encouraging everybody who was part of my campaign to join me, because we have found that leader in Vice President , soon to be president , joe biden. [cheers] [applause] fmr. V. P. Joe biden folks i tell you what, folks. I cant tell you how much i appreciate petes endorsement. And i know, from petes supporters, the many people here, this is also a bittersweet moment. Because you supported a man of enormous integrity. A fellow who has as much moral courage as he has physical courage. I really mean that. There has not been a harsh word between us since we started to compete. And i think that its clear to everyone that this is a man who is not only brilliant but is decent. In this is a man who, when i called pete when he got out, which surprised me, when he said he was going to suspend his campaign i did not ask pete to endorse me, but i called him and i told him we needed him to stay engaged and needed him badly to be involved. Because when you talk in the campaign and the debates about passing the torch to the next generation, thats absolutely essential. And i am absolutely confident, with further exposure of the nation to pete and all he stands for and all he will do and all he can do, that there is no limitation on what this man can get done. And the fact that hes prepared to help me means a great deal to me. I dont think ive ever done this before, but he reminds me of my son, beau. And i know that may not mean much to most people, but, to me, that is the highest compliment i can give any man or woman. And that is, like beau, he has a backbone like a ramrod. I really mean this. Think about it. Some of you have heard me say this before. When i got elected, the same age pete was elected, 29, people would come up to me and say, because i won, there must have been some secret. Whats the secret . I said there is one secret. You shouldnt get engaged unless you know what is worth losing over. Pete knows what is worth losing over. Pete knows why he got engaged, knows why hes there, and im absolutely confident he will stay engaged. I warned pete that, if i were lucky enough to get the nomination, that i would be asking him to join. I would be asking him to be involved in this process. Because there are a generation of leaders of petes age, like my son beau, who have unlimited potential. Unlimited potential. The only thing that stands in their way is access and opportunity to be able to be known nationally. If pete had been around another six years, i wouldnt be standing here. Pete would be standing here. Id be endorsing pete. I really mean it. So, folks, the other point i want to make is this. That the reason i and we talked after the debates, we talked during the interim periods backstage the reason that i admire him so much and the reason why i think we are so simpatico, even though we represent two different generations, is that pete knows the role of the president is not just to fight. Not just to win. But to heal. This country needs to be healed. I really mean it. [applause] and pete pete gets it, you know . Ive talk many times about the its all about you. Its all about family. Its all about community. And it really is. And its never changed. When i left the vice presidency when our term ended, i thought a long time about what to do, and i had opportunities to take advantage, some significant opportunities for a kid who was listed as the poorest guy in the senate for all those years. I will endthat with this i had a conversation with my son beau, i am so sorry to talk about my son beau so much. But he was my soul. I remember him knowing he would only have a little time to live. And wed go and have dinner friday night and spend the weekend with him. Because he only lived a crows flight away from us. He asked his wife to take my two grandchildren upstairs, and he wanted to talk. He said, dad, i know no one loves me more than you do. And he said, dad, i want you to know, im going to be ok, even though we knew it was a matter of months. Its going to be ok. And he looked at me and said, dad, i want you to promise me you will be ok. Some of the press has heard me say this. I wrote a book about beau. That was the first book, then i wrote another book about beau, promise me, dad. And what it is all about is what pete is all about. He said, promise me, dad, you will stay engaged. He knew i would take care of his family and everything, but he thought i would withdraw and move away. He looked at me and said, dad, look at me. Promise me. Give me your word as a biden, give me your word, dad, that you will be ok. And i knew what that meant. He didnt want me to walk away from what ive done my whole life, be engaged in policies that are designed to lift people up, no matter what their background, no matter what their circumstances, to reach out. Im no hero, by any stretch of the imagination, but i stayed engaged. And when i stand on the stage sometimes, and a couple people in the press signed to me, they have assigned to me, they have heard me say it. I just hope hes proud of me. And i look over at pete in those debates and think, you know, thats a beau. Because he has such enormous character. Such intellectual capacity. And such a commitment to other people. And, folks, i cant tell you how much it means to me that he would step up and endorse me. He didnt even tell me, when we spoke, that he was endorsing me. But i just cant tell you how much i appreciate it. Because i promise you, you will and up, over your lifetime, seeing a hell lot more of pete then you are of me. [applause] [cheers] [inaudible] thank you, mr. Mayor. Lets go, joe [cti