Biden gets emotional at departure for inauguration

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday grew emotional and shed a few tears as he spoke at a military center named after his late son during a sendoff from his home state of Delaware.

After the speech in New Castle, Biden will board a plane headed for Washington, D.C., where he will be sworn in on Wednesday at noon as the nation’s 46th president.

Speaking from the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard Reserve Center, the president-elect focused on his love for his late son and his home state.

He said his son Beau Biden, the former attorney general of Delaware who died of brain cancer in 2015, should be up there in his place.

“I only have one regret — that he’s not here,” Biden said, pausing to wipe away tears. “Because we should be introducing him as president. But we have great opportunities. Delaware has taught us anything is possible.”

In his brief speech, Biden, wearing a dark overcoat with a dozen Delaware flags blowing behind him in the wind, repeatedly choked up, recalling how his mother and father had sought refuge in Delaware when they had fallen on hard financial times. 

Biden recalled how he was first elected to the New Castle County Council before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served for more than 30 years.

“It’s kind of emotional for me,” Biden said. “But look, you’ve been with me my whole career, from the good times to the bad. I want to thank you for everything and to my fellow Delawareans here today, on behalf of the entire Biden family, I want to express how much you mean to me and to every one of us.”

Biden’s life in Delaware has been marked by personal tragedy. He lost his first wife and daughter to a car accident in 1972. Beau Biden, a fast-rising star in Democratic politics and a Bronze Star recipient for his service in Iraq, died in 2015.

Biden declined to run for president in 2016 because he was grieving.

“The state that gave my mother and father a livelihood when they needed it most … gave me a chance, believed in me and sent me to the U.S. Senate after going to the County Council, where Jill and I found each other … the state that loved our Beau, and he so loved her back,” Biden said.