Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and lived there for ten years prior to moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969 and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002 and has served for the sixth-longest period among current senators.

Biden is a long-time member and current chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee—dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties—and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, both times dropping out early in the process. Barack Obama selected Biden to be the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 U.S. election. If elected, he will be the first Roman Catholic Vice President and the first Vice President from Delaware.

United States Senator

When Biden did take office on January 3, 1973, at age 30 (the minimum age to become a U.S. Senator), he became the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history.[32] In 1974, freshman Senator Biden was named one of the 200 Faces for the Future by Time magazine.[33]

Biden has since been elected to five additional terms, in most cases with about 60 percent of the vote.[34] Biden spent 28 years as a junior senator due to the two-year seniority of his Republican colleague William V. Roth. After Roth was defeated for re-election by Thomas R. Carper in 2000, Biden became Delaware’s senior senator. He is now the longest-serving senator in Delaware history.[35]

In February 1988, after suffering from several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden was taken by long-distance ambulance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and given lifesaving surgery to correct a intracranial berry aneurysm that had begun leaking;[36][37] the situation was serious enough that a priest had administered last rites at the hospital.[38] While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism, which represented a major complication.[37] Another operation to repair a second aneurysm, which had caused no symptoms but was also at risk from bursting, was performed in May 1988.[39][37] The hospitalization and recovery kept Biden from his duties in the U.S. Senate for seven months.[27] Biden has had no recurrences or effects from the aneurysms since then.[37]