Would Beau Biden have made a better president? Former VP felt late son should have been one running for office
Former Vice President Joe Biden has always stated that he had a deep connection with his late son Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in 2015. The Democratic presidential nominee, months after announcing his bid for the 2020 White House run, opened up about Beau, for whom he said he was the one who "should be the one running for president, not me."
Beau, born as Joseph R Biden III in 1969, Wilmington, Delaware, was the eldest son of the former vice president and his first wife Neilia. Beau's younger sister, Naomi, and their mother, however, were killed in a car accident while they were Christmas shopping on December 18, 1972. Beau, who was just four at the time, and his brother Hunter, 2, were both in the car when the accident occurred but survived. The two brothers, however, sustained critical injuries, with Beau suffering multiple broken bones and Hunter sustaining injuries on his skull.
The brothers, according to some reports, encouraged Biden to get married again. Nearly four years after the tragedy, Biden married Jill Jacobs and the brothers welcomed her as their second mother. Beau, meanwhile, studied law, graduated from Syracuse University College of Law, and later worked at the United States Department of Justice in Philadelphia, first as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and later as a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office. Beau, in 2004, became a partner in the law firm of Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick, and nearly two years later was elected Delaware attorney general, serving two terms. He also became a Major in the Delaware Army National Guard.
In 2014, Beau announced plans to run for governor of Delaware in 2016, however, his plans were sidelined by a mild stroke. A year later, on May 30, 2015, he died of brain cancer at the age of 46. He spent his final moments at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Biden announced Beau's passing in a statement to the New York Times, saying: "It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life. In the words of the Biden family: Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known.”
Beau also shared a friendship with Senator Kamala Harris, Biden's running mate in the 2020 elections. Beau's friendship with Harris may also have strengthened her chances at becoming Biden's vice-presidential running mate. She struck a friendship with Beau after being sworn in as attorney general of California in 2011, Beau was Delaware's AG at the time. The two reported compared notes and strategized together. The pair reportedly often used each other as sounding boards and even their staff formed close bonds, according to their former aides.
On Beau's fourth death anniversary in 2019, Harris had shared a touching tribute to her late friend, writing: "I still miss him."
"Thinking of @JoeBiden, @DrBiden and the entire Biden family today. Beau Biden was my friend. We were AGs together, and you couldn’t find a person who cared more deeply for his family, the nation he served, and the state of Delaware. Four years after his passing, I still miss him," she wrote.