Joe Biden is the 47th Vice President of the United States, serving under the Obama administration for eight years. Not including his 2020 bid, Biden has run for president two times, once in 1988 and again in 2008. Biden served as a senator from Delaware for a tenure of 36 years from 1973 to 2009, during which he pioneered several major pieces of U.S. legislation. 

Biden is a public proponent of giving every American the right to choose an option of free public health care but is not in favor of abolishing all private health care, as would be the case with Medicare For All, a major point of more progressive 2020 platforms, including those of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

In 2002, Biden voted in favor of authorizing U.S. involvement in the Iraq War, a move he and many other members of Congress at the time have been largely criticized for. However, during his tenure as Vice President, Biden worked to form the U.S. policy for troop removal from Iraq. Biden has since said that his vote in favor of the war was a “mistake,” though his decision is still attacked by his political opponents.

Biden’s economic plan includes raising the federal minimum wage to 15 dollars per hour and aggressive investing in the middle class as a way to build the American economy. Biden has also promised that he would, given the chance, reverse President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has been widely denounced by Democrats as a plan that only benefits the richest Americans.

Biden supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that legally permits unlimited corporate spending on U.S. political elections and is a major reason why Super PACs (large groups of donors formed to support a particular party or campaign) hold so much influence over American politics today.

On the topic of education, Biden has promised to drastically increase funding for public schools across America and has become one of the most outspoken advocates of universal Pre-K schooling. Biden is also in favor of free community college for all Americans.