Knowing Joe: Floridians recount firsthand experiences with Biden

As a man who's run for president three times over the last 33 years, Joe Biden knows Florida. And a good chunk of Floridians know the president-elect.

Some of those who have met Biden recount him as caring, gracious and statesmanlike. Their depictions of Biden vary little despite decades of interactions.

Kathleen Crotty remembers meeting both Joe and Jill Biden on July 25, 1986. Her father, the late Ambassador Bill Crotty, was a major Democratic Party fundraiser and he hosted the Bidens that night at the old Treasure Island resort in Daytona Beach Shores.

"I was very, very pregnant,at the time," Crotty said recently. "A lot of times going to a party, everybody dressed up. ... (Joe Biden) was gracious with me."

T. Wayne Bailey, the Stetson professor emeritus of political science at Stetson University, was there, as well. Biden won't go down in history as a particularly eloquent speech-maker, Bailey said.

"I do remember he would reach over when he saw you and give a handshake and put an arm around your shoulder. He was very friendly. ... He was like one of us."

And Crotty recalls Jill Biden as "lovely." Crotty and the future first lady-elect sat down and had a conversation about education.

"That's the only thing that gives kids a chance to do more than what they were born with," said Crotty, who's a long-practicing attorney in Daytona Beach. "I really think we're going to have a great first lady."

Career in Senate

Joe Biden first became a U.S. senator representing Delaware in 1973.

Bailey said he remembers taking Stetson students to the U.S. Capitol for a seminar in the late 1970s or early 1980s and Biden was among the Senators willing to meet with the group.

"He was very approachable. ... He liked to visit with small groups," Bailey said. "He liked the conversational approach."

Biden first ran for president in 1987. Along with eventual nominee Michael Dukakis and five others, Biden was dubbed as one of the "Seven Dwarfs," Democrats seeking the 1988 nomination, but he dropped out months ahead of the primaries after news reports surfaced accusing him of plagiarizing several speeches including one by Neil Kinnock, the British Labour Party leader.

While Biden had given similar speeches crediting the source, Dukakis operatives supplied reporters with an example where Biden had not mentioned Kinnock, and 1987 was a different time in presidential politics. Even some mini-scandals meant the end for candidates. 

"I've done some dumb things," Biden said as he announced his departure from the race. "And I'll do dumb things again."

He settled back into his Senate seat, continuing on as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

As a staffer who started in Sen. Ted Kennedy's office in 1985, Nancy Soderberg got to know Biden.

"He is just Joe. He has been exactly the same for the 30 years I've known him," said Soderberg, a former ambassador who served in various foreign policy roles in the Clinton and Obama White Houses.

Today Soderberg is director of the University of North Florida's Public Service Leadership in Jacksonville.

Biden supported Soderberg's Senate confirmation as alternate representative to the United Nations and in 2018 endorsed her unsuccessful run for the Congressional seat covering Volusia and Flagler counties. 

"He's just always been lovely to me, very supportive,. very thoughtful," she said. "He looks at you as a person."

'Voice for the American middle class'

Gwen Graham of Tallahassee has had much the same experience with Biden.

A former member of Congress herself, Graham is also the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida. The Bidens and Grahams became close when both patriarchs were on Capitol Hill.

"He actually was the first person to call me when I won my congressional race," Gwen Graham said, "and he has been incredibly kind in helping me navigate my husband's cancer. ... I feel very fortunate to have known him for as long as I have."

Many of Biden's opponents have been fond of questioning what he accomplished over his long career as a senator and as Barack Obama's vice president from 2009 until 2017.

Soderberg said she once had asked her boss, Kennedy, that question.

"He said when you've been here a long time, you realize that history is a river and you can bend the shape of that river," Soderberg said. "You can be part of the arc of history. There's not necessarily a grand moment of peaks and valleys. ... Biden has been part of the trend of making people more understanding, more supportive of the American dream. He's admitted some mistakes, such as on the crime bill (of 1994), but he's always been a voice for the American middle class, the regular working guy. He's always helped build a consensus for that."

Biden ran a second time for president in 2008, but Obama's ascension left Biden available to become vice president.

Bailey said one of the highlights of Biden's career came in the White House in 2012, when the vice president became the first national figure to offer an early expression of support for gay marriage. The move preceded Obama's own announcement that he, too, had warmed to the idea, which was ultimately legalized nationwide by a 2015 Supreme Court decision.

Hopes for a Biden presidency

Graham was among those endorsing Biden on the first day he announced his last run for president in 2019.

"I endorsed him because I know the quality of person he is and I felt very strongly he would have won in November," she said.

Graham and other Florida supporters were disappointed Biden's opponent, President Donald Trump, won the Sunshine State by 2.3 percentage points, particularly after Biden led in many Florida polls.

But, she argued, Biden's viability forced the president to expend resources in Florida that ultimately took away from Trump's ability to spend in other key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which Biden took en route to a 306-232 electoral ballot victory.  

Graham said her support was borne not just of her belief Biden was the Democrat most likely to defeat Trump, he was the best one to assume control in 2021.

"I knew that he would have the skills and experience from Day One to start recovering from four yeas of Donald Trump," she said.

"His career in public service has spanned a time, and I know this time well, when we were able as Democrats and Republicans to put aside partisanship," Graham said.

She anticipates Biden will be able to tap into "deep friendships with senators who are afraid of Donald Trump," for cooperation after Trump is out of power.

"I hope the American people are ready to put this time of divisiveness and ugliness behind us," she said. "There's no person better than the president elect, who has such empathy and caring." 

Soderberg said the outgoing president has left a foreign relations legacy that's going to take a long time to rebuild.

"I think (Biden) understands America's place in the world," she said. "The need for arms control, the global challenges that are impossible for the United States to refute: climate, terrorism, cyber threats, trade. I think he gets that the world is not going to go back to the days of Barack Obama."

But, she said, Biden has hit the ground running.

Crotty said way back in 1986, Biden attracted even Republicans to the Daytona Beach Shores fundraiser her father organized.

"He seemed to impress both sides of the aisle," Crotty said. "Of course, things weren't as polarized as now." 

Did you know?:In Volusia, many Trump supporters still refuse to believe Biden won

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