Joe Biden Tears up in Emotional Speech as He Leaves Delaware for DC Ahead of Inauguration Day

President-elect Joe Biden teared up while delivering an emotional speech in his adopted home state of Delaware, ahead of leaving for Inauguration Day in Washington D.C. On Tuesday, Biden was speaking at a National Guard center named after his son Beau, and he became overwhelmed with emotion before saying, “When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart.” This selection is a paraphrase from a quote by Irish author James Joyce.

Biden also became emotional when recalling a story he often tells, about when he first became Vice President of the United States, as part of Barack Obama’s administration. “Twelve years ago, I was waiting at the station in Wilmington for a Black man to pick me up on our way to Washington, where we were sworn in as president and vice president of the United States of America,” Biden shared. “And here we are today, my family and I, about to return again to Washington, to meet a Black woman of South Asian descent, to be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States. … That’s America. That’s Delaware.”

Biden defeated outgoing president Donald Trump in the 2020 election, with the electoral college certifying the results of the vote in early December. Trump has repeatedly alleged that the election was rife with voter fraud and that he actually received more votes than Biden. No evidence has been proved to support these claims, and leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties have urged Trump to stop making unsubstantiated fraud claims.

Back in December, following the electoral college certification, Biden delivered a speech and in it, he called on Trump to accept the results and concede the election, which Trump has refused to do. “Respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy even when we find those results hard to accept,” he said. “But that’s the obligation of those who have taken on a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.” Biden added, “In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed … faith in our institutions held and the integrity of our elections remained intact. And now it’s time to turn the page as we’ve done throughout our history, to unite and to heal.”