Biden votes early in Delaware

President Biden on Monday voted in the 2024 election while in his home state of Delaware, casting his ballot in a race that he was running in just a few months ago.

“Joseph Biden, now voting,” announced a woman who checked in the president at the New Castle, Del., voting location.

The president presented his driver’s license, signed his name with his finger and was directed to a booth. The next voters after him were first-time voters and were cheered for when their names were announced.

“This is sweet,” he told reporters after he cast his ballot. He came outside with first-time voters and took a photo with six of them.

The president was running for reelection until July, when he dropped out of the race after pressure from fellow Democrats following a dismal debate performance against former President Trump. He endorsed Vice President Harris when he left the race.

Biden has appeared a handful of times with Harris on the campaign trail, but his role has diminished as Election Day approaches, and the two don’t have plans to campaign together before next week. The vice president, meanwhile, recently campaigned alongside former President Obama.

When asked Monday if he wished more candidates would use him as a surrogate on the campaign trail, Biden replied, “We’ll I’ve done a lot of surrogacy, but the fact of the matter is I’ve always had to be president at the same time.”

Biden waited in line at the polling center that included about 100 fellow voters, and he stood with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), who is running for Senate in Delaware. While waiting in line, he met an elderly woman who was in a wheelchair and pushed her into the polling place with him.

Harris hasn’t voted yet, but she told reporters Friday, “It is on my priority list for the next few days.”

Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, voted with his family in St. Paul last week. Walz's 18-year-old son, Gus, was a first-time voter.