Say it ain't so Joe: A look at Joe Biden’s intertwined history with Delaware, the nation
Love him or hate him, Joe Biden's long political career has had an impact on the nation and his adopted Delaware.
Here is a look back the 81-year-old's impact.
Biden defined: The key issues and events that made Delaware's favorite son
Through a half-century of life in public service, from his shocking upset of a Republican incumbent in his first Senate run to his years as Barack Obama's right-hand man, Joe Biden has helped reshape Delaware politics while playing a significant role in the course of the nation at-large.
Biden's lengthy track record reveals several gaffes that have drawn attacks from rivals throughout the election cycle. But it also shows many significant achievements, including the highest award a civilian can obtain.
More: Biden defined: The key issues and events that made Delaware's favorite son
How Joe Biden's political life has been bookmarked by tragedy:
Joe Biden's political life has been defined by tragedy.
Just weeks before Biden was to be sworn in as a U.S. senator in 1972, his wife Neila and his daughter, Naomi, died in a horrific car accident.
Then, decades later, in 2015, Biden's son Beau, Delaware's attorney general, died of brain cancer. The death of his son ultimately diverted Biden's initial plans to run for president in 2016.
More: How Joe Biden's political life has been bookmarked by tragedy
Neilia Hunter Biden, the brains behind Joe Biden's first victories
Joe Biden's first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, is mostly remembered for the car accident that killed her and the couple's baby daughter and enveloped her husband in a cloud of grief that has shaped his life.
But what might not be so well-remembered is she was the woman who helped Biden make his first big splash onto the national political scene.
More: Neilia Hunter Biden, the brains behind Joe Biden's first victories
Joe Biden's family tree: An introduction to Delaware's most famous family
There's no question the Bidens are Delaware's most famous family.
As Joe Biden prepared to begin his term as the 46th president, his family was by his side the entire way. Here's the who's who of the Biden family.
More: Joe Biden's family tree: An introduction to Delaware's most famous family
Biden's complicated history with busing:
In the weeks before his expected announcement of a presidential run, Joe Biden began taking heat for a stance he’s held since the 1970s against busing children to achieve racially balanced public schools.
A freshman Delaware senator when Wilmington’s school desegregation plan was being fought out in federal court, he vocally opposed busing as an integration method.
In his campaign in a Democratic field crowded with progressive candidates, that stance got renewed national attention and criticism. An especially pointed attack came during the debates from California Sen. Kamala Harris — now Biden's vice president.
More: Joe Biden's complicated opposition to busing for school desegregation
'Meat on the bone': How Joe Biden changed Delaware politics
In 1970, one of the highest-ranking Democrats in all of Delaware was a guy who had just won his first seat on New Castle County Council.
He was a 28-year-old with a young family and budding law career. He was a self-described political novice, who at one time thought being on the county council meant long meetings in the state capital of Dover.
More: 'Meat on the bone': How Joe Biden changed Delaware politics
The story of Joe Biden, Delaware's most prominent politician
Joe Biden, Delaware’s most famous adopted son and the highest U.S. political officeholder in state history, wasn't done making history after serving as vice president.
The gregarious politician who climbed from a seat on New Castle County Council to become an influential U.S. senator, sat out the race after serving two terms as Barack Obama's vice president.
Then in 2019, he announced he was running for the White House.
More: The story of Joe Biden, Delaware's most prominent politician
A look back at Joe Biden's run for president: How the primary started and ended in Delaware
In some ways, the Democratic presidential primary started and ended in Delaware.
It began April 25, 2019, when Biden announced he was running for president for a third time, telling the country in a video that he would help repair the soul of the nation as president. Hours later, he answered a scrum of reporters' questions at Gianni's Pizza in Trolley Square.
And it ended in April 2020, in Delaware, as Biden became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, following Sen. Bernie Sanders dropping out of the race. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Biden spent weeks campaigning for the highest office in the land out of his basement in his Wilmington home.
More: A look back at Joe Biden's run for president: How the primary started and ended in Delaware
Top 10 places to bump into Joe Biden in Delaware
It sometimes feels like you just can't escape Joe Biden in Delaware.
Photos of him with business owners are in shops across the state, our I-95 welcome center and Wilmington's Amtrak station are both named for him and, well, he just might be where you're headed later today.
In a small state like Delaware where everyone seems to know each other, Biden is easily spotted whenever he is out and about in his home state, which is often.
More: Top 10 places to bump into Joe Biden in Delaware
A generational divide: Black residents in Wilmington speak their minds on Joe Biden
Joe Biden – the former vice president for the country's first Black president – gave a speech during the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Wilmington — the majority-Black city that gave him his political start and taught him about race in America.
"There's a saying in our community where he's the homeboy," local business owner Holland Raulston Jr. said. "In his heart, he's a fair man. He was raised among Black men in this city."
That close relationship between Biden and the local Black community has become the stuff of legend.
More: A generational divide: Black residents in Wilmington speak their minds on Joe Biden
President Biden: Longtime Delaware leader now takes the nation’s helm
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. became the 46th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021, sworn in to an office that had eluded him for decades at the site of a violent insurrection just two weeks before.
He took the oath of office with his history-making vice president, Kamala Harris, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where on Jan. 6, 2021, a violent mob stormed into the halls of Congress, creating a dark day in American history.
More: President Biden: Longtime Delaware leader now takes the nation’s helm
More: Biden defined: The key issues and events that made Delaware's favorite son