Post-Presidential Election

Written by Haley Smith
November 9th 2020

Joe Biden became president-elect Saturday after winning Pennsylvania. His running mate, Kamala Harris, made history as the first woman and first Black and South Asian American elected vice president. Biden and Harris will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.
A little background on the next President of the United States. Joe was born in 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania before moving to Delaware 10 years later. Joe graduated from the University of Delaware before getting his law degree at Syracuse University. In 1966, Joe married his first wife and together they had three children. Joe’s career in public service quickly led him to being elected to the New Castle County Council and then as one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. Weeks after his election, his wife and baby daughter were killed and two sons critically injured in a car accident. Joe was sworn into the Senate at his son’s hospital bedsides and commuted from Delaware and Washington every day and night.
In 1977, Joe married Jill, a high school English teacher. Jill helped Joe raise his sons and their daughter. She went on to earn her doctorate in education and returned to teaching as an English professor at a community college. Joe served 36 years in the US Senate. During his time, he was the chair of the Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. He was consistently ranked as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate and was known for his bipartisan cooperation.
“He’s an expert on foreign policy whose heart and values are rooted firmly in the middle class. He has stared down dictators and spoken out for America’s cops and firefighters. He is uniquely suited to be my partner as we work to put our country back on track.” – President Obama announcing Joe as his running mate. In 2017, President Obama awarded Joe with the nation’s highest civilian honor in 2017.
While Vice President, his son Beau, the Attorney General of Delaware, passed away from brain cancer, leading Joe to lead the “Cancer Moonshot” to advance cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The good news for President-elect Joe Biden is that he defeated incumbent Donald Trump. Now he is to preside over an angry and polarized nation, a broken Congress and the continuing economic and public health crisis posed by COVID-19. We will see how he takes this all in come January.