Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who in 2004 won the Democratic nomination for president as a senator from Massachusetts, endorsed Joe Biden for president on Thursday, choosing to campaign for the former vice president over the more liberal, but home state senator, Elizabeth Warren.

Kerry, who spent four years as the country's top diplomat in the Obama administration, served with Biden for years in the Senate.

"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," Kerry said in a statement released by the Biden campaign. "I've never before seen the world more in need of someone who on day one can begin the incredibly hard work of putting back together the world Donald Trump has smashed apart."

Kerry described Biden as someone with a "legacy of getting things done with integrity and bipartisanship," including his work to pass the NEW START treaty on nuclear proliferation and the deal to halt Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, from which President Trump withdrew.

Kerry won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary in 2004 when he became the Democratic Party's nominee, but feel short against President George W. Bush. He plans to join Biden on the campaign trail Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and will be in New Hampshire with Biden on Sunday.

Warren will be back in New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday, according to her campaign.