Joseph R. Biden, president

JOSEPH R. BIDEN

Democratic

Joe Biden has achieved his lifelong wish to run as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, and now he’s campaigning against media savvy President Donald Trump during a deadly pandemic, economic hardship and a Supreme Court battle.

After failing in two previous attempts, Biden, also running on the Working Families Party line, bested 29 other candidates in the most crowded and ideologically divided Democratic primaries in years. Biden, who turns 78 shortly after the election, would become the oldest president at the time of his inauguration.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden moved as a child to Delaware, where he became a lawyer and in 1972 won election to the U.S. Senate at age 30. He served six terms before Barack Obama tapped him as his vice president.

During his long career, Biden had a reputation for being able to work across the aisle while also pushing through Democratic priorities. But he faces criticism on some issues.

He sponsored the Violence Against Women Act and also led efforts to pass the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act that banned assault weapons and created background checks but also resulted in mass incarceration for drug offenses.

In a primary debate this year, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) chided Biden for opposing busing in the 1970s, telling him she was one of those kids on the bus. In August, Biden selected Harris to be his running mate, the first Black and Asian woman chosen for that position.

As Senate Judiciary Committee chairmen, Biden oversaw the controversial Supreme Court confirmation processes that rejected Robert Bork and confirmed Clarence Thomas, an issue that could resonate as Republicans move to fill the seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

As vice president, Biden managed a massive stimulus package to counter the recession of 2008 and negotiated with Republicans to break three major fiscal deadlocks.

Biden said he carried out U.S. and Western nations’ policy by forcing out a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor, not to save his son who worked for Ukrainian gas company that prosecutor had investigated.

Biden promises to lower the temperature in public discourse and unify divided Americans. Adhering to medical and scientific advice on COVID-19, Biden wears face coverings and mostly campaigns virtually. Biden appeals to white working class voters and has Black voter support that helped propel his campaign to the Democrat nomination for president.

He also has experienced tragedy in his personal life — his first wife and baby daughter were killed in a 1972 car wreck and his son Beau died from cancer in 2015.

Critical of Trump’s handling of COVID-19, Biden says he has a plan to manage the pandemic and to distribute vaccines. He would save the Affordable Care Act and add a public option. He supports protests of police shootings of Black people and denounces violence.