Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and the U.S. Senate in 1972. Biden ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 and 2008 Democratic presidential nominations. In 2008, Obama chose Biden as his running mate, and he was a close counselor to Obama as vice president. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence. He became the first president with a woman vice president.
Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his term. He became the first president to turn 80 while in office. Biden initially ran for reelection and, after the Democratic primaries, became the party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election. After his performance in the first presidential debate, renewed scrutiny from across the political spectrum about his cognitive ability led him to withdraw his candidacy.
