This is the electoral history of Joe Biden, the 46th and current

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

. Biden served as the 47th

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

(2009–2017), and as a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

(1973–2009). Biden is the oldest elected and serving president, the second Catholic president, after

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, and the first president from Delaware. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Biden was elected to the

New Castle County Council New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

in 1970, and became the sixth-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 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. In January 2009, Biden resigned from the Senate, to serve as

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

'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. 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; but over time, the field narrowed down to Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Eventually, Sanders withdrew from the race, and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in April 2020. Biden reached the delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination in June 2020. He defeated incumbent president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

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.

County council election (1970)

U.S. Senate elections (1972–2008)

1972

1978

1984

1996 United States Senate election in Delaware results map by county

1990

1996

2002

2008

Presidential primaries (1984–1988)

1984

1988

Presidential elections

2008

New Hampshire primary

Primaries

Excluding penalized contests,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

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. only primary and caucuses votes: Including penalized contests:

Nomination

General election

2012

Nomination

General election

County council election (1970)

U.S. Senate elections (1972–2008)

1972

1978

1984

1990

1996

2002

2008

Presidential primaries (1984–1988)

1984

1988

Presidential elections

2008

New Hampshire primary

Primaries

Nomination

General election

2012

Nomination

General election

2020

Primaries

Nomination

General election

See also

Notes

References