Joe Biden is the First Syracuse University Graduate to be Elected President of the United States
Joe Biden has won the 2020 Presidential nomination, and in so doing has become the first Syracuse alum to be President Elect. CNN, NBC, ABC and the Associated Press projected the election Saturday morning. It was 48 years to the day when Biden was elected to the Senate.
Biden graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. His late son, Beau Biden, graduated from the same College of Law in 1994. Beau's mother and Joe's late first wife (Neilia Hunter) grew up in Central New York and also attended Syracuse University. She also taught at the Syracuse City School District.
Biden has returned to Syracuse five times for commencement and other speeches. He has also supported their sports programs, including attending the 2016 Final Four.
"The reason why I love that school so much is because I’ve never, ever, been part of an institution that has been as loyal to me as they have," Biden said in 2009 according to the Post-Standard.
After graduating from Syracuse, Biden was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969. It was shortly afterwards that Joe would begin his life as a public servant. He became a public defender in 1969 and won election as a U.S. Senator in 1972. He served in the Senate until 2009, when he became Vice President in Barack Obama's administration.
While Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election, he had previous unsuccessful attempts at the Presidency. He ran in 1988 but was unsuccessful as Michael Dukakis won the nomination for the Democratic Party. He tried again in 2008, but Obama was the nominee. Obama would then select Biden as his running mate. Biden considered another run in 2016, but ultimately decided against it.
Biden secured the Democratic nomination for the 2020 campaign, and was able to defeat incumbent Donald Trump in the election. The 2020 election was historic for many reasons. Biden became just the fifth campaign to defeat an incumbent in the last 100 years, and there was the largest voter turnout in U.S. history. Biden received the most votes ever for a Presidential candidate.
The election came in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to much more mail-in voting than in any previous election.
