Democratic Primary race Everything you need to know about Joe Biden – Extra.ie

As the Democratic primary race gathers pace ahead of Novembers US presidential election, Extra.ie has everything you need to know about the frontrunning candidates to challenge the incumbent US President Donald Trump, continuing with Joe Biden.

As former Vice President to Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, Joe Biden was initially seen as a strong candidate for the Democratic nomination.

But his support has been sliding, and the 77-year-old put in disappointing performances in the Iowa caucus, coming fourth, and the New Hampshire primary, coming fifth.

At 77, Joe Biden joins Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren among the host of veteran candidates running for the Democratic ticket.

Born to a wealthy Catholic family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe Biden has ancestral roots in Ireland and England. The financial situation of the family of four deteriorated during Bidens early life, with his fathers difficulty in finding work resulting in a move to Delaware.

Biden had a very successful high school career, serving as student president, captaining the school football team to victory and achieving high academic results. Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1956 with a degree in history and political science.

Biden subsequently went on to study law in the Syracuse University of Law, struggling through a degree he did not enjoy and ultimately gaining admission to the Delaware bar in 1969.

Although Biden allied himself with Republican principles in early life, his opposition to former US President Richard Nixon led him to register as an Independent. In 1969, while working with a Democratic public defender named Sid Balick, Biden was recruited to the Democratic Forum, a group attempting to revitalise the Democratic Party in Delaware.

Biden served as a Democratic county councillor until 1972, at which point he ran successfully for the Senate, despite heavily stacked odds.

Biden ran as a Democratic candidate in the 1988 US Presidential election, seeking to become the youngest US President since John F Kennedy, but withdrew from the race over controversy about an allegedly plagiarised speech. As it turned out, this withdrawal may have saved Bidens life, as he suffered multiple aneurysms in February 1988 that may have proved fatal if he was still on the campaign trail.

Biden remained a senator, serving on the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Biden declared his candidacy for the US Presidential race once more in 2007, losing out on the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, who later appointed him Vice President in his administration, a role Biden retained until Trump took office in 2017.

Biden and his son Hunter played a major role in the impeachment charges brought against Trump, as it was alleged that the US President abused the powers of his office in an attempt to compel Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into Hunters role on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Biden has been married twice. His first wife, Neilia, and the couples one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident in 1972. The couple had two other sons, Hunter and Beau. Tragically, Beau also died from brain cancer in 2013. Biden married educator Jill Jacobs in 1977, and the couple have one daughter, Ashley. He remains a practising Roman Catholic.

Biden is generally seen as a moderate Democrat, and his distance from the radicalism of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders identified him for many as a favourable centrist candidate to oppose Trump.

Economically, Bidens proposals have not been as detailed as those of some of his rivals, but he has emphasised his commitment to revitalising and enlarging the middle class, and he has proposed increasing taxation on the wealthy and increasing social spending. Biden has supported raising corporate tax rates, albeit not to pre-2017 levels, and raising the national minimum wage.

Biden does not support Medicare for all, the universal, single-payer health insurance system championed by some of his rivals, but has pledged to build on the Affordable Care Act.

Socially, Biden is generally liberal, supporting abortion access albeit with some limits; increased gun control; the abolition of the death penalty; and the legalisation of marijuana in accordance with state preferences. When it comes to climate and immigration, Biden believes current statutes on illegal entry should remain in place, and supports taxing carbon emissions and paying farmers to adopt more climate friendly practices.

When it comes to foreign policy, Biden is harsh on Chinas abusive trade practices, but has criticised Trumps self-defeating broad tariffs and has called for more targeted measures.

Biden supports increasing defence spending, and supports the continued presence of US troops in Middle Eastern countries including Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Bidens stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is equivocal. He has criticised Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for counterproductive and extreme right positions, but has also accused Palestinian leaders of fomenting conflict and baiting Jewish people. 3Biden referred to Bernie Sanders proposal to withdraw US military aid from Israel unless better treatment is afforded to Palestine as bizarre.

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Democratic Primary race Everything you need to know about Joe Biden - Extra.ie