Six articles published by our reporters during the campaign illustrate the personal and political arcs of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris through the years.
When Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris take the oath of office on Wednesday, they will instantly make history, as Ms. Harris becomes the first woman to hold the nation’s second highest office. Forced to hold their celebration amid tragedy, as the nation remains mired in the coronavirus pandemic and faces threats of right-wing violence, they will seek to cast their inauguration as a hopeful moment for the country. In so many ways, this is a moment Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have prepared for their entire careers. They each entered politics as young adults, staking out positions as moderate Democrats and clearly harboring ambition for higher office. As a young man, Mr. Biden sat out the Vietnam-era activism that animated so many others in his generation, an early prelude to his lifelong image as a family man not particularly interested in courting controversy. Mr. Biden’s first two presidential runs, two decades apart, fizzled out.
