The electoral history of Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States, began in 1970.[1] Biden served as the 47th vice president (2009–2017), and as a United States senator from Delaware (1973–2009). Biden is the oldest elected and serving president, the second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy, and the first president from Delaware.
A member of the Democratic Party, Biden was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970, and became the seventh-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 and 2008.
In January 2009, Biden resigned from the Senate, to serve as Barack Obama'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.[2] 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;[3] but over time, the field narrowed down to Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont.[4] Eventually, Sanders withdrew from the race, and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in April 2020.[5] Biden reached the delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination in June 2020.[6] He defeated incumbent president Donald Trump 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.[7]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joseph R. Biden, Jr. | 10,573 | 55.41 | ||
Republican | Lawrence T. Messick (incumbent) | 8,192 | 42.93 | ||
American | Kenneth A. Horner | 317 | 1.66 | ||
Total votes | 19,082 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic gain from Republican |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden | 116,006 | 50.48 | ||
Republican | J. Caleb Boggs (incumbent) | 112,844 | 49.10 | ||
American | Henry Majka | 803 | 0.35 | ||
Prohibition | Herbert B. Wood | 175 | 0.08 | ||
Total votes | 229,828 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic gain from Republican |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 93,930 | 57.96 | ||
Republican | James H. Baxter Jr. | 66,479 | 41.02 | ||
American | Donald G. Gies | 1,663 | 1.03 | ||
Total votes | 162,072 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 147,831 | 60.11 | ||
Republican | John M. Burris | 98,101 | 39.89 | ||
Total votes | 245,932 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 112,918 | 62.68 | ||
Republican | M. Jane Brady | 64,554 | 35.83 | ||
Libertarian | Lee Rosenbaum | 2,680 | 1.49 | ||
Write-in | 5 | 0.00 | |||
Total votes | 180,157 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 165,465 | 60.04 | ||
Republican | Ray Clatworthy | 105,088 | 38.13 | ||
Libertarian | Lee Rosenbaum | 3,340 | 1.21 | ||
Natural Law | Jacqueline Kossoff | 1,698 | 0.62 | ||
Total votes | 275,591 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 135,253 | 58.22 | ||
Republican | Ray Clatworthy | 94,793 | 40.80 | ||
Independent Party | Bud Barros | 996 | 0.43 | ||
Libertarian | Raymond Buranello | 922 | 0.40 | ||
Natural Law | Robert E. Mattson | 350 | 0.15 | ||
Total votes | 232,314 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden (incumbent) | 257,539 | 64.69 | ||
Republican | Christine O'Donnell | 140,595 | 35.31 | ||
Total votes | 398,134 | 100.00 | |||
Democratic hold |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Walter Mondale | 2,191 | 56.41 | |
Gary Hart | 1,201 | 30.90 | |
Jesse Jackson | 466 | 12.00 | |
Thomas Eagleton | 18 | 0.46 | |
George McGovern | 4 | 0.10 | |
John Glenn | 2 | 0.05 | |
Joe Biden | 1 | 0.03 | |
Martha Kirkland | 1 | 0.03 | |
Total votes | 3,884 | 100.00 |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Michael Dukakis | 2,877 | 70.09 | |
Jesse Jackson | 1,219 | 29.70 | |
Richard Stallings | 3 | 0.07 | |
Joe Biden | 2 | 0.05 | |
Dick Gephardt | 2 | 0.05 | |
Lloyd Bentsen | 1 | 0.02 | |
Gary Hart | 1 | 0.02 | |
Total votes | 4,162 | 100.00 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Raymond Stebbins | 50,485 | 46.93 | |
Democratic | William Bryk | 22,965 | 21.35 | |
Democratic | John Edwards | 10,553 | 9.81 | |
Democratic | Barack Obama | 6,402 | 5.95 | |
Democratic | Bill Richardson | 5,525 | 5.14 | |
Democratic | Hillary Clinton | 3,419 | 3.18 | |
Democratic | Joe Biden | 1,512 | 1.41 | |
Democratic | Al Gore | 966 | 0.90 | |
Democratic | Dennis Kucinich | 762 | 0.71 | |
Democratic | Bill Clinton | 388 | 0.36 | |
Republican | John McCain | 293 | 0.27 | |
Democratic | Christopher Dodd | 224 | 0.21 | |
Republican | Ron Paul | 176 | 0.16 | |
Republican | John Barnes Jr. | 95 | 0.09 | |
Democratic | Mike Gravel | 91 | 0.09 | |
Democratic | Joe Lieberman | 67 | 0.06 | |
Republican | Mitt Romney | 66 | 0.06 | |
Republican | Mike Huckabee | 63 | 0.06 | |
Republican | Rudy Giuliani | 46 | 0.04 | |
Democratic | Darrel Hunter | 20 | 0.02 | |
Total votes | 104,118 | 100.00 |
Excluding penalized contests,[19] only primary and caucuses votes:
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Barack Obama | 16,706,853 | 49.04 | |
Hillary Clinton | 16,239,821 | 47.67 | |
John Edwards | 742,010 | 2.18 | |
Bill Richardson | 89,054 | 0.26 | |
Uncommitted | 82,660 | 0.24 | |
Dennis Kucinich | 68,482 | 0.20 | |
Joe Biden | 64,041 | 0.19 | |
Mike Gravel | 27,662 | 0.08 | |
Christopher Dodd | 25,300 | 0.07 | |
Others | 22,556 | 0.07 | |
Total votes | 34,068,439 | 100.00 |
Including penalized contests:
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Hillary Clinton | 18,225,175 | 48.03 | |
Barack Obama | 17,988,182 | 47.41 | |
John Edwards | 1,006,275 | 2.65 | |
Uncommitted | 299,610 | 2.79 | |
Bill Richardson | 106,073 | 0.28 | |
Dennis Kucinich | 103,994 | 0.27 | |
Joe Biden | 81,641 | 0.22 | |
Scattering | 44,348 | 0.12 | |
Mike Gravel | 40,251 | 0.11 | |
Christopher Dodd | 35,281 | 0.09 | |
Total votes | 37,980,830 | 100.00 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden | –[a] | 100.00% | |
Total votes | – | 100.00% |
Candidate | Running mate | Party | Popular vote | Electoral vote | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Barack Obama | Joe Biden | Democratic | 69,498,516 | 52.91 | 365 | 67.84 | |
John McCain | Sarah Palin | Republican | 59,948,323 | 45.64 | 173 | 32.16 | |
Ralph Nader | Matt Gonzalez | Independent | 739,034 | 0.56 | |||
Bob Barr | Wayne Allyn Root | Libertarian | 523,715 | 0.40 | |||
Chuck Baldwin | Darrell Castle | Constitution | 199,750 | 0.15 | |||
Cynthia McKinney | Rosa Clemente | Green | 161,797 | 0.12 | |||
Others | 290,626 | 0.22 | |||||
Total | 131,361,761 | 100.00 | 538 | 100.00 | |||
Source: [22] |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Joe Biden | –[a] | 100.00 | |
Total votes | – | 100.00 |
Candidate | Running mate | Party | Popular vote | Electoral vote | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Barack Obama (inc.) | Joe Biden (inc.) | Democratic | 65,915,795 | 51.06 | 332 | 61.71 | |
Mitt Romney | Paul Ryan | Republican | 60,933,504 | 47.20 | 206 | 38.29 | |
Gary Johnson | Jim Gray | Libertarian | 1,275,971 | 0.99 | |||
Jill Stein | Cheri Honkala | Green | 469,627 | 0.36 | |||
Others | 490,513 | 0.38 | |||||
Total | 129,085,410 | 100.00 | 538 | 100.00 | |||
Source: [22] |
Joe Biden Bernie Sanders Michael Bloomberg |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Joe Biden | 19,076,052 | 51.79 | |
Bernie Sanders | 9,679,213 | 26.28 | |
Elizabeth Warren | 2,831,472 | 7.69 | |
Michael Bloomberg | 2,488,734 | 6.76 | |
Pete Buttigieg | 924,237 | 2.51 | |
Amy Klobuchar | 529,713 | 1.44 | |
Tulsi Gabbard | 273,940 | 0.74 | |
Tom Steyer | 259,792 | 0.71 | |
Andrew Yang | 170,517 | 0.46 | |
Uncommitted | 130,081 | 0.35 | |
Michael Bennet | 63,124 | 0.17 | |
Julian Castro | 37,037 | 0.10 | |
Others | 370,044 | 1.01 | |
Total votes | 36,833,956 | 100.00 |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Joe Biden | 3,558 | 75.48 | |
Bernie Sanders | 1,151 | 24.42 | |
Abstention | 5 | 0.11 | |
Total votes | 4,714 | 100.00 |
Candidate | Running mate | Party | Popular vote | Electoral vote | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
Joe Biden | Kamala Harris | Democratic | 81,268,924 | 51.31 | 306 | 56.88 | |
Donald Trump (inc.) | Mike Pence (inc.) | Republican | 74,216,154 | 46.86 | 232 | 43.12 | |
Jo Jorgensen | Spike Cohen | Libertarian | 1,865,724 | 1.18 | |||
Howie Hawkins | Angela Walker | Green | 405,035 | 0.26 | |||
Others | 628,584 | 0.40 | |||||
Total | 158,384,421 | 100.00 | 538 | 100.00 | |||
Source: [26] |
Joe Biden Primary cancelled |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Joe Biden (incumbent) | 10,116,916 | 86.84 | |
Uncommitted | 459,331 | 3.94 | |
Dean Phillips | 391,377 | 3.36 | |
Marianne Williamson | 381,154 | 3.27 | |
Armando Perez-Serrato | 76,244 | 0.65 | |
Gabriel Cornejo | 69,701 | 0.60 | |
Frank Lozada | 36,571 | 0.31 | |
Stephen Lyons | 34,378 | 0.30 | |
President R. Boddie | 24,773 | 0.21 | |
Cenk Uygur | 20,546 | 0.18 | |
Eban Cambridge | 12,645 | 0.11 | |
Others | 26,484 | 0.23 | |
Total votes | 11,650,120 | 100.00 |
The AP delegate estimate reached the magic number of 1,991 delegates for Biden as seven states and the District of Columbia continue counting votes from Tuesday's primaries