Written by Rehmat Kaur, a grade 9 student.  

Joe Biden is an American politician who was the Vice President of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009, where he represented the state of Delaware. Biden is considered to have centre-left views and believes in equal opportunity and rights. He is running for the 2020 U.S. Presidential Elections, in which he is the primary candidate from the Democratic Party.

 Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Delaware. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in 1965 and received a law degree from Syracuse University, New York in 1968, after which he returned to Delaware. While working as an attorney, he took an interest in politics and joined the New Castle County Council in 1970. In 1972, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and continued to represent Delaware for 36 years, winning re-elections six times. He was not only amongst the youngest Senators to be elected but also the longest-serving Senator from Delaware.

Joe Biden first attempted to stand for President in the elections of 1988 as a candidate from the Democratic Party. However, he withdrew due to a scandal regarding plagiarism in his speeches. Biden campaigned again in the presidential elections of 2008 but failed due to a lack of support and poor performance. Although he withdrew from the U.S. presidential elections in 2008, he became Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s running mate. When Obama was elected President, Biden became the 47th Vice-President of the United States. He served his first term as Vice-President from 2009 to 2013, and again from 2013 to 2017 following Obama’s re-election.

 In April 2019, he announced that he would be running for President in the 2020 elections in November. He earned more delegates (representatives) than fellow Democratic Party candidate Senator Bernie Sanders in the primary elections. This led to Sanders withdrawing his presidential campaign and made Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee (a candidate who has not been formally nominated by his/her party yet but is expected to soon). On June 5th, Biden was declared the nominee from the Democratic Party.

Biden is opposing current U.S. President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential elections. As part of his campaign, he has described his intentions to continue the legacy left behind by President Obama. During his time as Vice-President, he took an active interest in ensuring that more citizens were covered by health insurance. He has criticized Trump’s reaction to the Covid-19 Pandemic, stating that the current President wasted months before taking action, and has promised to develop the U.S. healthcare system. In the battle against Coronavirus, he has assured people he will make tests available to all and will also support the development of a vaccine.  Biden has also promised to look into other major problems in the U.S, such as gun violence, inequality for people with disabilities, racism against certain communities, and equal rights for women. In the past, he has often been involved in the enactment of laws and policies regarding such matters.

 Joe Biden’s popularity rates in the United States have been soaring over the past few weeks. Some people have cited his close friendship with former President Barack Obama as their reason for supporting him, while others say that his promises to the middle class have appealed to them. He has received endorsements from Obama, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and former Vice-President Al Gore, amongst others. The results of the U.S. presidential elections and whether Biden will be able to live up to his promises remains to be seen, but in his time as Senator and Vice-President, Biden has proved himself a worthy candidate to many.

Written by Rehmat Kaur, a grade 9 student.