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To put it lightly, the last few weeks have been a very intense time when it comes to national politics. But it’s also a full circle moment for many Delawareans — and probably the most famous Delawarean of the moment, President Joe Biden. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING[/caption]
To put it lightly, the last few weeks have been a very intense time when it comes to national politics. But it’s also a full circle moment for many Delawareans — and probably the most famous Delawarean of the moment, President Joe Biden.
A quick look into Biden’s history has made it clear how much he loves his adopted state. He considers it home and has apparently been dreaming of becoming president since his college days. He announced his U.S. Senate Campaign at the Hotel du Pont in the 1970s. He then announced his first presidential campaign at the Wilmington Amtrak station a decade later.
So, of course, when he ended his 2024 campaign for re-election, it had to be done in Delaware, only this time it was while he was at his beach home in Rehoboth.
The thing that fascinates me about Biden lately is not just his 48 years in public office, but the breadth of what he’s done for Delaware, foreign policy and Americans. It’s the fact that he commuted nearly every day for years to be home for his children. That’s 135 miles from Capitol Hill to Delaware one way.
When he left the vice presidency in 2017, it was estimated that he made 8,000 round trips between home and Washington D.C. That’s 2.1 million miles.
As a new mom settling in a new role as a mother and here at the Delaware Business Times, I can only imagine how long the days were. Driving from Wilmington during the 5 p.m. rush to my home at the southern end of New Castle every day for weeks last winter took a mental and physical toll on me.
But during those drives, racking up close to 100,000 miles on what was a relatively new car, I also reflected on the beauty of being a Delawarean. Sure, we’re the smallest state when it comes to population (U.S. Census Bureau put us at just over 1 million recently) and by county (Hawaii is tied with Delaware at three counties). We also beat Rhode Island when we measure by land mass. For those wondering, Delaware is larger by roughly 900 square miles.
Our small stature means it is possible to get relatively quickly to the opposite end of the state for whatever meeting or event, even on short notice. Take it from someone who once had a doctor's appointment in Christiana and a meeting in Georgetown on the same day.
It’s not hard to make the inroads here in Delaware. The first step is showing up. The second step is to keep showing up. The third is to, surprise, keep showing up and listen.
I’ve had a unique perspective, as my first job was on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. That meant when I wanted to visit my family in the Pike Creek region, I had to make the two hour drive (120 miles) one way. I’ve seen the development along the U.S. Route 113 in Millsboro when it had only just started, the Bayhealth Milford Campus when it broke ground and the Frankford Business Park when the beams went up.
This morning, I watched the sun rise over the Appoquinimink River on my daily commute. The farmland and growing development in the Middletown region faded into strip malls and highways. I also navigated the hills of the Brandywine Valley while searching for a Starbucks before I came into the city.
Maybe I’m biased because I’ve lived in Delaware most of my life, but it’s hard to not see how beautiful and complicated our state can be. We have the issues of major cities, but one could argue we have only two classified as major cities — although my money is that there will be one in Sussex County very soon, given the population boom.
We are the lowest-lying state with beautiful bays and steady growth along them. We have farmers, though the small size of the farms may mean Delaware is not much a player outside the agriculture industry, outside chicken farms. But if you spend time listening to farmers, it’s not hard to see how much an impact they have on the state’s economy.
I’ve had the privilege to cover three presidential candidates in my short career, and two who have successfully become president. I attended a rally for former President Donald Trump in 2016. I covered a red-flag gun bill signing where Biden attended years ago. Now, I managed to photograph Vice President Kamala Harris as she started on her presidential campaign.
Maybe it’s just luck and being in the right place at the right time. But it’s hard to see where any of that could have happened anywhere else for me than in Delaware. And apparently, Biden felt the same way.
With Biden officially ending his career in politics after 48 years, it looks like Delaware’s moment in the sun is finally over. But I’d like to think that there’s a valuable lesson to be learned from a man who made that Amtrak ride, almost every day, for years.
