The departing 74-year-old vice president said it with a slight smile on his face. Given a chance to walk it back, he did—but only a bit.

Biden was chatting with reporters Monday after presiding over the Senate as it cleared away procedural hurdles to a biomedical research bill he’s supporting, during which Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dedicated the bill’s key cancer initiatives to Beau Biden, who died from cancer last year, according to The Hill.

Asked by a reporter whether he would run again, Biden said he would in 2020—for president.

Asked if he was joking, he said he wasn’t committing to not running.

Biden says, “I learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of intervening.”