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Need to know ~ People
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Joe Biden, candidate for U.S. president
Joe Biden speaking in Iowa
Photo: Gage Skidmore, 2019
Why current?
2020-08-23
On November 3, 2020, Americans will decide who the next president of the United States will be. Either Donald Trump, the sitting president and a Republican, will be re-elected, or Joe Biden, a Democrat, will be voted in to replace him. The two candidates represent starkly differing views on the major issues facing the country today, including immigration, social justice, health care, the environment, and how to approach the COVID-19 crisis.
Joe Biden served as vice president in the Obama administration, from 2009-2017. In 2020, after a series of primary elections among a wide field of candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar, just to name a few, Democratic voters chose Biden as their candidate to challenge Trump in the general election.
It is widely agreed that the outcome of the 2020 election will be a turning point in the future of the United States, as the country has become increasingly divided along ideological lines.
“We’re facing a battle for the soul of this nation. We will either stand against this hate now and wipe it out, or we will rue the day we allowed it to grow and fester. Our values, our core beliefs, all that has made this nation a beacon to the world, are at risk.”
-Joe Biden
More about Joe Biden
- Born Joseph Robinette Biden, on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Studied at the University of Delaware and later got his law degree at Syracuse University in New York.
- Had three children with his first wife, Neilia Hunter.
- Successfully ran for office in 1972, becoming the fifth youngest U.S. senator ever elected.
- Was in a car accident in 1972, in which his wife and baby daughter were killed, and his two young sons, Beau and Hunter, were badly injured.
- Married Jill Jacobs in 1977, with whom he later had a daughter.
- Was re-elected six times to the U.S. Senate.
- Ran for president in 1988 and in 2008.
- Joined the presidential ticket of Barack Obama as the vice presidential nominee in August 2008.
- Obama and Biden won the election on November 4, 2008, defeating John McCain and Sarah Palin. Biden was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 2009.
- In 2012, Obama and Biden were re-elected after running against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
- Lost his son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015.
- Has been an outspoken critic of President Trump since Trump’s election in 2016.
- Announced his decision to run for president in April 2019.
- Was officially nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee in August 2020, after announcing that Kamala Harris would be his vice presidential running mate.
- Key points of the Biden/Harris platform include more government aid to low-income communities, new and increased action on the issue of climate change, and the expansion of federal health care plans.
- Since the spring of 2020, Biden has been maintaining a significant lead in the polls over President Trump.
Source: The Editors of Encylopaedia Britannica, “Joe Biden,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/biography/Joe-Biden, August 19, 2020.