Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 election and became the United States’ 46th president when he was inaugurated a few months later.
He initially ran for a second term, but he announced a few months before the election that he would be withdrawing from the race. His decision came a few weeks after a disastrous debate performance that had Democratic allies calling for him to step aside and “pass the torch” for the good of the party and the country. Biden threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who went on to secure the Democratic nomination.
For more than 35 years, Biden represented Delaware in the US Senate. He resigned in 2009 to become vice president under Barack Obama.
He ran for president in 1988 and 2008 before breaking through in 2020. At the time, he was the oldest president-elect in US history.
Biden carries his sons Beau, left, and Hunter while attending a Democratic convention in Delaware in 1972. At center is his first wife, Neilia, and on the left are future Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt and his wife, Jeanne. Biden, a member of the New Castle County Council, was running for one of Delaware's US Senate seats, and he won that November at the age of 29. AP
Biden cuts a cake at his 30th birthday party in November 1972, shortly after winning the Senate election. A few weeks later, Neilia Biden died in a car accident while Christmas shopping. Their baby daughter, Naomi, was also killed in the wreck. The two boys were badly injured, but they survived. Bettmann Archive
Biden speaks with US President Jimmy Carter at a fundraising event in Delaware in 1978. Later that year, Biden was re-elected to the Senate. He kept getting re-elected until he resigned in 2009 and became Barack Obama's vice president. Barry Thumma/AP
