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.

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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.