Joe Biden at his presidential kick-off rally in Philadelphia , May 2019 Joe Biden , the 46th and current president of the United States ,[ 1] has run for public office several times, beginning in 1970. Biden served as the 47th vice president (2009–2017), and as a United States senator from Delaware (1973–2009). Biden is the oldest elected and serving president , the second Catholic president , after John F. Kennedy , and the first president from Delaware.
Biden has never lost a general election, though he failed to win the Democratic nomination for president in 1984, 1988, and 2008. The first three winning Democratic presidential tickets of the 21st century had Biden on the ticket, either as president or vice president. A member of the Democratic Party , Biden was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970, and became the seventh-youngest senator in American history when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Delaware in 1972 , at the age of 29. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth-most senior senator . He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 1988 and 2008 . In January 2009, Biden resigned from the Senate, to serve as Barack Obama 's vice president, after they won the 2008 presidential election . They were re-elected to a second term in 2012 .
Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential election on April 25, 2019.[ 2] A total of 29 major candidates declared their candidacies for the primaries, the largest field of presidential candidates for any American political party since 1972;[ 3] but over time, the field narrowed down to Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont .[ 4] Eventually, Sanders withdrew from the race, and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in April 2020.[ 5] Biden reached the delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination in June 2020.[ 6] He defeated incumbent president Donald Trump in the general election, with 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a candidate in a U.S. presidential election .[ 7]
County council election (1970)[ edit ] U.S. Senate elections (1972–2008)[ edit ] 1972 U.S. Senate map 1978 U.S. Senate map 1984 U.S. Senate map 1990 U.S. Senate map 1996 U.S. Senate map 2002 U.S. Senate map 2008 U.S. Senate map Presidential primaries (1984–1988)[ edit ] Presidential elections (2008–2024)[ edit ] New Hampshire primary [ edit ] Excluding penalized contests,[ 19] only primary and caucuses votes:
2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries [ 20] Candidate Votes % Barack Obama 16,706,853 49.04 Hillary Clinton 16,239,821 47.67 John Edwards 742,010 2.18 Bill Richardson 89,054 0.26 Uncommitted 82,660 0.24 Dennis Kucinich 68,482 0.20 Joe Biden 64,041 0.19 Mike Gravel 27,662 0.08 Christopher Dodd 25,300 0.07 Others 22,556 0.07 Total votes 34,068,439 100.00
Including penalized contests:
2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries [ 20] Candidate Votes % Hillary Clinton 18,225,175 48.03 Barack Obama 17,988,182 47.41 John Edwards 1,006,275 2.65 Uncommitted 299,610 2.79 Bill Richardson 106,073 0.28 Dennis Kucinich 103,994 0.27 Joe Biden 81,641 0.22 Scattering 44,348 0.12 Mike Gravel 40,251 0.11 Christopher Dodd 35,281 0.09 Total votes 37,980,830 100.00
Electoral College map of the 2008 presidential election 2008 United States presidential election Candidate Running mate Party Popular vote Electoral vote Votes % Votes % Barack Obama Joe Biden Democratic 69,498,516 52.91 365 67.84 John McCain Sarah Palin Republican 59,948,323 45.64 173 32.16 Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez Independent 739,034 0.56 Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root Libertarian 523,715 0.40 Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle Constitution 199,750 0.15 Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente Green 161,797 0.12 Others 290,626 0.22 Total 131,361,761 100.00 538 100.00 Source: [ 22]
Electoral College map of the 2012 presidential election 2012 United States presidential election Candidate Running mate Party Popular vote Electoral vote Votes % Votes % Barack Obama (inc.)Joe Biden (inc.) Democratic 65,915,795 51.06 332 61.71 Mitt Romney Paul Ryan Republican 60,933,504 47.20 206 38.29 Gary Johnson Jim Gray Libertarian 1,275,971 0.99 Jill Stein Cheri Honkala Green 469,627 0.36 Others 490,513 0.38 Total 129,085,410 100.00 538 100.00 Source: [ 22]
First-instance vote by state and territory Joe Biden
Bernie Sanders
Michael Bloomberg
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries [ 24] Candidate Votes % Joe Biden 19,076,052 51.79 Bernie Sanders 9,679,213 26.28 Elizabeth Warren 2,831,472 7.69 Michael Bloomberg 2,488,734 6.76 Pete Buttigieg 924,237 2.51 Amy Klobuchar 529,713 1.44 Tulsi Gabbard 273,940 0.74 Tom Steyer 259,792 0.71 Andrew Yang 170,517 0.46 Uncommitted 130,081 0.35 Michael Bennet 63,124 0.17 Julian Castro 37,037 0.10 Others 370,044 1.01 Total votes 36,833,956 100.00
Electoral College map of the 2020 presidential election 2020 United States presidential election Candidate Running mate Party Popular vote Electoral vote Votes % Votes % Joe Biden Kamala Harris Democratic 81,268,924 51.31 306 56.88 Donald Trump (inc.)Mike Pence (inc.)Republican 74,216,154 46.86 232 43.12 Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen Libertarian 1,865,724 1.18 Howie Hawkins Angela Walker Green 405,035 0.26 Others 628,584 0.40 Total 158,384,421 100.00 538 100.00 Source: [ 26]
First-instance vote by state and territory Joe Biden
Jason Palmer
Primary cancelled
2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries [ 27] Candidate Votes % Joe Biden (incumbent)[ b] 13,931,767 87.26 Uncommitted 694,551 4.35 Dean Phillips 524,867 3.29 Marianne Williamson 461,732 2.89 Armando Perez-Serrato 80,781 0.51 Gabriel Cornejo 69,701 0.44 Stephen Lyons 41,740 0.26 Frank Lozada 36,571 0.23 President R. Boddie 24,773 0.16 Cenk Uygur 20,862 0.13 Jason Palmer 20,360 0.13 Terrisa Bukovinac 18,996 0.12 Others 39,350 0.25 Total votes 15,966,051 100.00
^ "Biden and Harris inauguration live: Joe Biden becomes the 46th US president" . BBC News . 20 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-20 . ^ Saenz, Arlette (April 25, 2019). "Joe Biden announces he is running for president in 2020" . CNN . Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019 . ^ Burns, Alexander; Flegenheimer, Matt; Lee, Jasmine C.; Lerer, Lisa; Martin, Jonathan (January 10, 2020). "Who's Running for President in 2020?" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved January 22, 2020 . ^ Korecki, Natasha (March 2, 2020). "How Biden engineered his astonishing comeback" . Politico. Retrieved October 22, 2020 . ^ Ember, Sydney (April 8, 2020). "Bernie Sanders Is Dropping Out of 2020 Democratic Race for President" . The New York Times . ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved April 8, 2020 . ^ Detrow, Scott (June 5, 2020). "Biden Formally Clinches Democratic Nomination, While Gaining Steam Against Trump" . NPR . Retrieved June 5, 2020 . The AP delegate estimate reached the magic number of 1,991 delegates for Biden as seven states and the District of Columbia continue counting votes from Tuesday's primaries ^ Lewis, Sophie (November 7, 2020). "Joe Biden breaks Obama's record for most votes ever cast for a U.S presidential candidate" . CBS . ^ "State of Delaware Official Results of General Election (Excluding Write-in Votes) 1970" (PDF) . Office of the Delaware State Election Commissioner. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2020-04-28 . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1973). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1972" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1985). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 6, 1984" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1991). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1990" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1997). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1996" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (2003). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (2009). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 2008" (PDF) . U.S. Government Printing Office . ^ Our Campaigns - US President - D Convention Race - Jul 16, 1984 ^ "Democrats Acclaim Dukakis and Assert Unity" . partners.nytimes.com . Retrieved April 4, 2013 . ^ "Presidential Primary Election January 8" . Sos.nh.gov. 2008-01-08. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2012-01-04 . ^ Florida and Michigan violated Democratic National Committee rules by moving their primaries before February 5, 2008, resulting in a nullification of their primaries, until the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to restore half their delegates. ^ a b "2008 Democratic Popular Vote" . RealClearPolitics . Retrieved February 15, 2020 . ^ "CNN.com Video" . CNN . Retrieved May 1, 2010 . ^ a b "Federal Elections 2012" (PDF) . Federal Election Commission . Washington, D.C. 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2021 . ^ "Beau Biden Speech Kicks Of Motion To Nominate Father Joe Biden For Vice President" . The Huffington Post . September 6, 2012. ^ "Democratic Convention - Nationwide Popular Vote" . The Green Papers. Retrieved March 19, 2020 . ^ "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020" . The Green Papers . Retrieved January 4, 2020 . ^ "Official 2020 presidential general election results" (PDF) . Federal Election Commission . 1 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021 . ^ "Democratic Convention - Nationwide Popular Vote" . The Green Papers. Retrieved March 28, 2024 .