As former Vice President Joe Biden moves to shore up enough delegates to elect him the Democratic presidential nominee, he is on the verge of becoming the politician with the longest tenure in Washington, D.C.
First sworn into the Senate in January 1973, the year New York’s World Trade Center opened, Elvis Presley did his famous Hawaii telecast, and the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade was decided, Biden has been a dominant political figure in Washington for 47 years.
While President Trump ran on a platform of “draining the swamp” in Washington, a mix of lobbyists, influencers, and politicians, a Biden victory would be a victory for the swamp, and he would likely return many of Washington’s longtime power figures that he has known for decades.
Three politicians have technically served in office consecutively longer than Biden, out of office since 2017, but he beat them to Washington and has remained a power broker in the city during his rise to front-runner status for the Democratic Party and is considered its favorite son.
And it is paying off in endorsements from other longtime insiders including Rep. James Clyburn, who helped secure Biden’s first-ever primary win, and national security bigs Susan Rice, James Comey, and John Brennan.
For comparison, the two senators in Washington the longest arrived here after Biden was in the Senate. And the House member here the longest arrived months after Biden.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy came to Washington in January 1975. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley arrived in January 1981. And Alaska Rep. Don Young won a special election on March 6, 1973, and is now the longest serving member in Congress. Today is the anniversary of that election.
