Joe Biden
Democratic candidate
The former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee has centered his third presidential run on his vow to oust President Trump. He began his campaign with a video that started with the words “Charlottesville, Virginia,” alluding to the white supremacist violence there as a way of drawing attention to the division and violence he says has racked the country under the current president. In September, Biden’s name became part of the impeachment of President Trump, who acknowledged asking the president of Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter. Neither Biden nor his son has been accused of wrongdoing.
Biden, 77, has been a force in Democratic politics for nearly five decades, representing Delaware in the Senate for 36 years before serving two terms under President Barack Obama. His history has forged connections with voters and prompted criticism of his past, including his positions on crime legislation, his interactions with women and his tendency to make gaffes on the national stage.
Biden finished fourth in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire, then second in Nevada, but came roaring back in South Carolina with a decisive win that proved his strength with key constituencies, including black voters, that helped him to continue to pick up wins and delegates. He became the party’s presumptive nominee when Sen. Bernie Sanders left the race April 8.
In depth
The war in Afghanistan shattered Joe Biden’s faith in American military power Biden talks about America in grand terms, but he was a consistent voice of caution as vice president.
Greg Jaffe | Feb. 18, 2020 | 13 minutes
What a lifeguarding job on the black side of Wilmington taught Joe Biden about race His effort to personally wrangle with matters of race began when he was a 19-year-old teenager
Robert Samuels | July 12, 2019 | 15 minutes
Joe Biden was in charge of the Anita Hill hearing: A look back at how he handled it and some of the powers he didn’t use.
Elise Viebeck | April 26, 2019 | 15 minutes
Biden has reaped millions since leaving the vice presidency: Middle-class Joe no more.
Matt Viser | June 25, 2019 | 12 minutes
As he campaigns for president, Joe Biden tells a moving but false war story: Elements of at least three actual events were jumbled into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened.
Matt Viser | Aug. 29, 2019 | 10 minutes
Watch: The political journey of Joe Biden. Start in Delaware.
Lee Powell | Aug. 26, 2019 | 9:05 minutes
Climate change
Biden is embracing the Green New Deal’s framework, setting a deadline to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and vowing to create a clean-energy economy with new jobs. Biden said that he’d rejoin the Paris climate accord on his first day in office and would pressure other countries to take steps to lower emissions. But some climate activists, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a former Democratic presidential candidate, have accused Biden of having “middle ground” climate proposal and skirting more ambitious short-term targets.
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Economic inequality
The former vice president says his policies are designed to lift up the middle class. He is in favor of raising the capital gains tax on assets held by the wealthiest Americans, and an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He said the government needs to strengthen its antitrust enforcement and “take a hard look at how we can rein in some of the abuses of power from the world’s biggest corporations, whether it be big tech, insurance companies, or the agriculture industry.” Biden does not believe in providing a universal basic income or jobs guarantee, as some more liberal candidates have proposed.
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Education
Biden’s first detailed policy plan was centered on education. He called for a major increase in federal spending on low-income schools and districts and for the Education Department to renew its commitment to desegregation. His plan also involves paying teachers higher wages. Biden, unlike Obama and in line with other 2020 candidates, is placing less of an emphasis on accountability measures such as standardized testing and more focus on investment and partnership.
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Foreign policy
The former vice president has made foreign relations and Trump’s behavior on the international stage a cornerstone of his campaign. “Foreign policy is domestic policy and domestic policy is foreign policy,” he said in a July speech. He has accused Trump of currying favor with dictators and alienating allies with his “America first” mantra. Biden was a proponent of free-trade deals under the Obama administration but has since reversed his support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has been forced to defend his vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement. He has criticized Trump’s trade war with China, calling for new guidelines that would facilitate trade between the nations without allowing China to “keep moving and robbing U.S. firms.”
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Government
Biden has said he favors automatic voter registration. He has not addressed questions about structural changes to the electoral college and has voice opposition to changing the makeup of the Supreme Court.
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Health care
Biden’s health-care policy proposal is built on the legacy of Obama’s Affordable Care Act. He has been an outspoken proponent of a public option to allow anyone to buy into Medicare. Unlike many contenders to his ideological left, Biden has not endorsed Medicare-for-all. “I understand the appeal of Medicare-for-all, but folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare, and I’m not for that,” Biden said in a video. He has said he thinks undocumented immigrants should be covered under a government-run health plan.
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Immigration
Biden has called for an increase in the number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States by giving legal status to dreamers and ending the Trump administration’s limitations on asylum seekers. He does not support decriminalizing border crossings, a position that has drawn condemnation from other White House hopefuls, and he has struggled in the past to justify the deportations under President Obama’s leadership. Biden has stressed the importance of addressing the “root causes of migration” with foreign aid to Central America, and has made investing in technology at the border a prominent part of his platform, saying that technological improvements would “do more for our security than a wall ever could.”
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