As of now, according to ballotpedia.org, there are twenty-four “notable” people running for President of the United States in 2020. After the contentious elections of 2016 and 2018, each hopeful tries to appeal to America through their unique platforms and political stances, with diverse views rooted in various political ideologies.
Who are these presidential candidates? What are their backgrounds? What are their previously-held positions? What are their political views? In this series of articles, I will discuss candidates for the 2020 Election. For this article, the subject is Joe Biden.
Joe Biden
Joseph R. “Joe” Biden Jr. is one of the most popular Democratic candidates for president. In an April poll, he garnered 39% support for for the election, leading the second-highest polling candidate, Bernie Sanders, with 15% approval, by nearly 25 points.
In a recent poll in May, he had 46% approval for the presidency, with 32 more points than Mr. Sanders. What makes him so famous, and why is he leading the polls?
Mr. Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942, and moved to Delaware with his family at the age of 13. He grew up in a Catholic, working-class family, and eventually he graduated the University of Delaware with a double major in history and political science.
After attaining his law degree from Syracuse University Law School in 1968, he became a Delaware-based defense attorney. He began serving his first political position, a Council member in the New Castle County, Delaware, in 1970. He served this position for 2 years.
In 1972, he won the Senate race in Delaware against incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs in an election upset. His campaign was managed by his family, and he ran on a platform that included the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam (during the Vietnam War), and he advocated for civil rights and care for the environment.
His win in this race was unexpected, especially because Republican President Richard Nixon won Delaware in a landslide in the General Election.
Biden was re-elected five times to the Senate, a total of 36 years in congress. He was a major advocate for civil rights, gun control (mainly through bans on assault weapons), crime bills that deployed more policemen on the streets in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and harsh punishments for drug dealers.
Biden served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, where he advocated for limiting aid to the Soviet Union and later criticized the way President George W. Bush handled the Iraq War. He was also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he pushed his crime laws.
He also handled the controversial Clarence Thomas nomination and Anita Hill testimony, in which she described Thomas’ sexual harassment of her. Biden was criticized for his handling of the case as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He ran two presidential campaigns, one in 1987 and 2008. In 2008, he was chosen by presidential candidate Barack Obama to be his running mate. When the Obama-Biden ticket won, Biden became the first Catholic Vice President.
As Vice President, Biden helped push the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty involving the United States and Russia, and pushed a bill to raise taxes and lower government spending with the bipartisan approval of Congress. He was re-elected to the vice presidency in 2012.
Biden announced his candidacy for president on April 25, 2019. In his campaign announcement video he condemned President Donald Trump’s handling of the the Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, and said that he is fighting for the soul of America.
Biden’s campaign is focused on the middle-class, and some of his proposed policies include: health insurance for all, combating climate change, and non interventionism, using the military sparingly and fighting only when necessary for America’s survival.
Will Mr. Biden secure the Democratic nomination for President of the United States? Let’s see what happens this summer...