US President Joe Biden has ended his re-election campaign against Donald Trump, leaving the Democratic Party looking for a replacement ahead of November’s election.
Biden, who became the oldest person ever to be elected President in 2020, previously served as Vice President under Barack Obama, and has now endorsed his own Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as Democratic nominee.
On the social media site X, Biden said: ‘Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump.’
Now that his days in the White House are coming to an end, we’ve looked at when Joe Biden was Vice President and how many Vice Presidents have gone on to secure the top job.
When was Joe Biden Vice President of the US?
Joe Biden was Vice President of the US under the Obama administration.
He was the country’s 47th Vice President, holding the post from January 20 2009, when Obama was first inaugurated as President, until January 20 2017, when Donald Trump took over the keys to the White House.
Prior to becoming Vice President, he was the US Senator for Delaware, holding the post from 1973 until 2009.
Although he is the oldest person ever to be elected President ,the 81-year-old was one of the youngest people ever to become a senator, aged just 29 when he was elected in 1972.
He was re-elected to the Senate six times before resigning to become Vice President following the 2008 US election.
He previously attempted to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1988 and again in 2008.
How many Vice Presidents have gone on to become US President?
Prior to Joe Biden, 14 other Vice presidents have gone on to become US President:
- John Adams (1789–1797 – President from 1797-1801)
- Thomas Jefferson (1797–1801 – President from 1801-1809)
- Martin Van Buren (1833–1837 – President from 1837-1841)
- John Tyler (1841 – President from 1841-1845)
- Millard Fillmore (1849-1850 – President from 1850-1853)
- Andrew Johnson (1865 – President from 1865-1859)
- Chester Arthur (1881 – President from 1881-1885)
- Theodore Roosevelt (1901 – President from 1901-1909)
- Calvin Coolidge (1921-1923 – President from 1923-1929)
- Harry S Truman (1945 – President from 1945-1953)
- Lyndon B Johnson (1961-1963 – President from 1963-1969)
- Richard Nixon (1953-1961 – President from 1969-1974)
- Gerald Ford (1973-1974 – President from 1974-1977)
- George H W Bush (1981-1989 – President from 1989-1993)
Joe Biden is only the second of these who has not taken on the role of President directly after his term as VP. The only other person was Richard Nixon, who was Vice President alongside President Dwight D Eisenhower before he took office eight years later.
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Out of the others, nine became President after the existing President either died or resigned, while five of those (John Adams, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Gerald Ford) were not re-elected as President at the following election.
George H W Bush was the last Vice President turned President to only hold office for a single term, before Bill Clinton won the ticket to the White House in 1992.
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