Across the years, Joe Biden's long path to the presidency

President Biden is ending his presidential campaign, a momentous decision that upends the 2024 presidential race.

“I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the reminder of my term,” Biden said in a statement.

During his time as President, he has overseen Supreme Court hearings, drafted sweeping legislation and worked with eight presidents. Here’s a look at his long career, from being elected as one of the nation’s youngest senators in 1972 to becoming the nation’s oldest president in 2021.

Nov. 3, 1970: As a young lawyer recruited by local Democrats, Biden wins a seat on the New Castle County Council. It is his first stint in elected office, and even before being sworn in to the county seat, he quickly sets his sights toward higher office.

Nov. 7, 1972: Biden wins narrowly in a major upset over popular Republican incumbent Sen. J. Caleb Boggs. He had struggled to raise money, was down significantly in the polls, but campaigned aggressively by driving around the small state, and on election night won by just over 3,000 votes. He turned 30, the minimum age for a U.S. senator, less than two weeks after Election Day.

Dec. 18, 1972: While in Washington setting up his Senate office, Biden’s wife and children are in a car accident in Hockessin, Del. His wife, Neilia, and his daughter, Naomi, are killed; his two boys, Beau and Hunter, are hospitalized. He is sworn in from his sons’ hospital bedside.

January 1975: Biden is appointed as a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. His work on foreign affairs will be a defining aspect of his Senate career, and he later becomes chairman of the committee.

1975: Biden becomes the most prominent Democrat opposing court-ordered busing as a way to integrate schools. “It’s an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me,” he says in one interview. He files and supports several pieces of legislation on the issue, in some cases working with segregationist senators.

June 17, 1977: He weds Jill, a marriage that he says came in part at the urging of his sons, Beau and Hunter. Four years later, he and Jill have a daughter, Ashley.

Nov. 7, 1978: Biden wins reelection. Unlike his first win, this race is not close and will solidify his grip on a Senate seat he will hold for 36 years.

June 9, 1987: Biden, who had been rumored in past years as a presidential candidate, announces his first run for the presidency. He gets off to a quick and promising start, running as a new generation who could take over after Ronald Reagan left office, but his campaign collapses over a plagiarism scandal and he drops out on Sept. 23, 1987.

February 1988: Biden has emergency surgery and is treated for two brain aneurysms. The situation is so dire that a Catholic priest is called to his bedside to administer last rites. He will return to work in the Senate later in the year.

Oct. 11, 1991: Anita Hill is called to testify about sexual harassment allegations related to Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden oversees the hearings.

Sept. 13, 1994: President Bill Clinton signs into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It is a sweeping crime bill that Biden helps push through Congress and it includes the Violence Against Women Act, one of Biden’s signature pieces of legislation.

Oct. 11, 2002: Biden, a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, supports the resolution authorizing military force in Iraq and, as the committee chairman, helps ensure its passage. It is a vote he later regrets.

Jan. 31, 2007: Biden announces his second presidential campaign, this one focused on his long record of experience. But he struggles against the higher wattage, history-making candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and, after a dismal fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, drops out of the race on Jan. 3, 2008.

Aug. 22, 2008: Biden is named as Obama’s running mate, bringing to a ticket a longer record in Washington and an ability to reach the White working-class voters in the industrial Midwestern swing states. He debates against GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and campaigns against his longtime friend and Senate colleague John McCain.

Jan. 20, 2009: Biden is sworn in to office as the 47th vice president. A few days earlier, in a farewell address to the U.S. Senate, where he was one of the longest-serving senators in history, he said, “Every good thing I have seen happen here, every bold step taken in the 36-plus years I have been here, came not from the application of pressure by interest groups, but through the maturation of personal relationships.”

March 23, 2010: During a ceremony signing the Affordable Care Act into law, Biden leans over and whispers into Obama’s ear a comment that the microphones caught, calling the accomplishment “a big f---ing deal.” It is a symbol of Biden’s role with Obama, one that is a little more blunt and a lot more off-script.

May 6, 2012: During an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Biden says he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. He becomes one of the highest-profile politicians to take the stance, which irks some aides to Obama, who had been moving in that direction but hadn’t stated so publicly.

Oct. 11, 2012: Biden debates Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). The exchange happens five days after Obama’s widely panned first debate with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Biden’s strong performance boosts Democrats who had grown concerned about their reelection chances.

Oct. 21, 2015: In remarks delivered in the Rose Garden, Biden announces that he will not run for president in 2016, ending months of speculation about whether he would get into the race. The announcement comes amid a time of family grief, about five months after his son Beau died of brain cancer.

April 25, 2019: Biden announces he will launch his third presidential campaign. He enters as a front-runner in a crowded Democratic field, but his lead will dwindle. After losing the first three nominating contests, he uses a resounding win in South Carolina to gain what becomes unstoppable momentum that carries him to the nomination.

Jan. 20, 2021: Biden is sworn in to office as the nation’s 46th president.