Political Career
In his first bid at political office, Biden ran for Attorney General of Delaware in 2006. Biden's opponent was a veteran state prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney, Ferris Wharton. Major issues in the campaign included the candidates' experience and proposed efforts to address sex offenders, Internet predators, senior abuse, and domestic abuse. Biden won the election by approximately five percentage points.
After being elected, he appointed former Delaware Attorney General and International Judge Richard S. Gebelein as Chief Deputy Attorney General, and former assistant U.S. Attorney Richard G. Andrews was appointed as State Prosecutor. As Attorney General, Biden has supported and enforced stronger registration requirements for sex offenders.
Joe Biden's victory in the 2008 presidential election left a vacancy in the U.S. Senate upon the time he would resign his seat. Beau was once believed to have been a frontrunner for the seat, but, while deployed in Iraq, stated that he would not seek or accept an appointment to the Senate.
On November 24, 2008, Governor Ruth Ann Minner named Ted Kaufman to the seat, but Kaufman indicated he would not be a candidate in the 2010 special election. This fueled speculation Beau would run at that time. Biden's father stated after the announcement of Kaufman's appointment, "It is no secret that I believe my son, Attorney General, would make a great United States Senator just as I believe he has been a great attorney general. But Beau has made it clear from the moment he entered public life that any office he sought he would earn on his own ... f he chooses to run for the Senate in the future, he will have to run and win on his own. He wouldn't have it any other way." In October 2009, Biden stated that he was considering a run for the Senate and that he would make a final decision in January. On January 25, Biden confirmed that he would forgo a Senate run so as to better focus on the prosecution of Earl Bradley, an infamous pedophilia suspect.
On November 2, 2010, he was easily reelected to a second term as Delaware Attorney General, beating Independent Party of Delaware candidate Doug Campbell by a huge margin.
| Public offices | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office | Type | Location | Elected | Took office | Term ends | Notes |
| Attorney General | Executive | Dover | 2006 | January 2, 2007 | January 3, 2011 | |
| Attorney General | Executive | Dover | 2010 | January 3, 2011 | January 3, 2015 | |
| Election results | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Office | Election | Subject | Party | Votes | % | Opponent | Party | Votes | % | ||
| 2006 | Attorney General | General | Joseph R. Biden III | Democratic | 133,152 | 52.5% | Ferris Wharton | Republican | 120,062 | 47.4% | ||
| 2010 | Attorney General | General | Joseph R. Biden III | Democratic | 196,799 | 78.9% | Doug Campbell | Delaware Independent | 52,517 | 21.1% | ||
Read more about this topic: Beau Biden
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