Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born in November 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Biden grew up in a middle-class Catholic family, and was one of four children. When he was a young boy, the Biden family relocated to Wilmington, Delaware. Biden Jr. attended the University of Delaware for his undergraduate degree, majoring in both History and Political Science. He then attended the Syracuse University College of Law and became a lawyer in 1968.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been a part of American politics for over forty-eight years. First elected in 1972, Biden served six terms in the Senate as a Senator from the state of Delaware and cast more than 10,000 votes in the US Senate. In 1994, Joe Biden Introduced the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the bill that he has said he is “proudest of.” Biden also sponsored the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the National Child Protection Act, and the Justice Integrity Act. Biden was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1981 to 1997 and was the committee’s Chair from 1987 to 1995. During his time on the Judiciary Committee, Biden held fair confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees and he famously blocked the nomination of Conservative Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Following his time on the Judiciary Committee, Biden served several years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he was known to work with members on both sides of the aisle. During this time, Biden voted against entering the Gulf War, yet was a proponent of entering Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.
Joe Biden is not most well known for his time in the Senate, despite all of his accomplishments. After a failed run for the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 2008, he was chosen as Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential nominee. On the campaign trail, Biden balanced the Obama ticket very well, as he had foreign policy experience and appealed to working-class voters. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were elected as President and Vice President respectively. During his time as Vice President, Biden oversaw the Recovery Act of 2009, a response to the economic recession of 2008. Additionally, he assisted President Obama in creating the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Obama and Biden were reelected in 2012.
Most recently, Biden became the Democratic Party’s nominee for President in the 2020 election. Joe Biden is now campaigning with many of the same Democratic stances he has held during his entire political career. In August, Joe Biden chose California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they aim to win the 2020 election against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. If elected, Biden will make history as the oldest President ever inaugurated, and as only the second Catholic President in history. Joe Biden has had a very long career and has remained a strong voice in the Democratic Party through all of it.