Joseph “Joe” Robinette Biden, Jr., born November 20, 1942 (age 77), will become the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021.
He launched his presidential campaign on April 29, 2019.
Biden began his elective political career as the 4th District representative to the New Castle County Council from 1970-1972.
He next served as a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 to January 15, 2009.
From January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017, Biden served as the 47th Vice President of the United States.
On his way to being elected President in the 2020 campaign Biden received (As of 11:30 a.m. 11/18/20):
| Electoral Votes | Vote % | Vote Count | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Biden | 306 | 51 | 79,194,917 |
| Donald Trump | 232 | 47.2 | 73,410,536 |
| Difference | 5,784,381 |
Biden has already received more votes than any other candidate for president. Trump’s current vote total makes him the second largest vote getter in presidential campaign history.
By selecting Ron Klain as his White House Chief of Staff and Steve Ricchetti as Counselor to the President, Biden has shown that the team he will bring to the White House, his cabinet, and the government generally will be one of experience and strength. [WW]
We won’t know until January 5, 2021, but if Democrats don’t take control of the Senate, Biden will be the first Democratic president since Grover Cleveland (in 1885) to take office with his party not in control of both chambers.
Assuming Biden continues to hold this percentage of the vote he will have garnered a higher percentage of the vote than any challenger to an incumbent since Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932.
Biden will also have won the presidency with the weakest House coattails of any president since John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Joe Biden is the second Catholic to have been elected president. The first was John F. Kennedy.
Pat Nixon was the first First Lady to wear pants in public. Hillary Clinton was the first First Lady to be elected to a public office. Jill Biden will be the first First Lady to keep her full-time job outside the White House. She teaches English at the Northern Virginia Community College where she has taught for a decade. [19th News.org 11/10/20]
Vice President-Elect Harris
It started in 1984 when Gerry Ferraro was selected by Walter Mondale to be his vice-presidential running mate and the first woman to run for vice-president. (A selection with which I am particularly familiar.)
In 2004, John McCain “selected” Sarah Palin who had served as governor of Alaska, an interesting choice.
And then, “the third time is a charm”. Senator Kamala Harris, a person of many “firsts” became the first woman to be elected Vice President of the United States.
Harris had run for president earlier in this cycle but dropped out in early December 2019. In early March, she endorsed Joe Biden.
Harris is a person of many firsts: the first woman to be elected as the district attorney of San Francisco, the first woman to be elected as the attorney general of California; and the first Black woman, the first Indian-American woman, the first Asian American, and the first daughter of immigrants to be elected Vice President of the United States.
She is currently the only Black woman in the U.S. Senate and only the second Black woman to serve in that body.
However, Harris is not the first person of color or multiracial person to serve as Vice President of the United States. The honor goes to Charles Curtis who served as Vice President to Herbert Hoover from 1929-1933. Curtis’s mother was a Native American who belonged to the Kaw Nation and he was raised by his maternal grandparents with whom he spoke the Indigenous language. [WP 11/12/20]
One other person who will be added to the White House roster when Harris arrives is a Second Gentleman.
Harris is married to prominent California lawyer Doug Emhoff. He is also the first Jewish person married to a president or vice president. No Jews have been elected president or vice president. Emhoff has announced that he will not be practicing law while his wife is in office.