Washington, Dec 6 (PTI) Former Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday endorsed Joe Biden for the 2020 presidential run, a move that sends a strong signal that the top Democratic leadership is rallying behind the former vice president to defeat incumbent Donald Trump next November.

Kerry, who will join the 77-year-old Biden at an election rally in Iowa on Friday, announced his endorsement days after Senator Kamala Harris, a strong contender, suddenly dropped from the race.

"I believe Joe Biden is the President our country desperately needs right now, not because I've known Joe so long, but because I know Joe so well. I've never before seen the world more in need of someone who on day one can begin the incredible hard work of putting back together the world Donald Trump has smashed apart," Kerry said.

Kerry, 75, was the Secretary of State in the second term of the Obama Administration, before which he was a five-term Senator from Massachusetts. He also was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position which he took over from Biden when the later became the Vice President.

"There has never been a time more urgent for leadership at home that can work for the middle class and tackle existential issues like climate change where we are moving dangerously backwards. Joe is uniquely the person running for president who can beat Donald Trump and get to work on day one at home and in the world with no time to waste," Kerry said.

Confident that Biden will defeat Trump, 73, Kerry said the former vice president "is the candidate with the wisdom and standing to fix what Trump has broken, to restore our place in the world, and improve the lives of working people here at home."

Kerry is the fourth former Obama-Biden cabinet member to endorse Biden.

His support comes a few weeks after more than 130 national security and foreign policy professionals endorsed Biden as the best candidate to restore America's global leadership.

Kerry was the 2004 Democratic nominee for President. The two served in the Senate together for 24 years. "When Chairman Biden became Vice President Biden, he didn't just hand me a gavel, but a legacy of getting things done with integrity and bipartisanship, and shared experiences on hundreds of thousands of miles travelled together building relationships around the world,” he said.

"He was a partner working to pass the New Start Treaty that made us safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation. I later became Secretary of State, Joe was an advocate and an ally on the hardest issues, from diplomacy to end the Iranian nuclear threat that Donald Trump's let back out of the bottle, to building the military and diplomatic strategy that beat back ISIL and ultimately routed them from the territory they once held,” Kerry said.

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