Joe Biden has given an emotional speech where he fought back tears as he commemorated his deceased son and gave thanks to his home state of Delaware.
“I only have one regret, that he’s not here,” Mr Biden said, referring to his son Beau, a former attorney-general who died of brain cancer in 2015.
“Because we should be introducing him as president.”
This speech marks the final event for Mr Biden before he is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States tomorrow.
Addressing a small, socially distanced crowd at a National Guard centre named in the honour of his late son, the 76-year-old teared up twice.
“It’s kind of emotional for me,” he told the crowd, while calling himself a “son of Delaware”.
“You’ve been with me my whole career, through the good times and the bad.
“In our family the values we share, the character we strive for and the way we view the world it all comes from home, it all comes from Delaware.”
Mr Biden had planned on travelling to Washington DC by train, as he had for years as a senator, and with President Barack Obama before their inauguration in 2009.
“Twelve years ago, I was waiting at the station 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,” Mr Biden said.
“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.”
Known for quoting Irish poets, President-elect looked to James Joyce’s musings of Dublin for inspiration.
“When I die, Delaware will be written on my heart,” he told the crowd.
An inherited virus crisis
Mr Biden will inherit a coronavirus crisis when he assumes office on Wednesday.
The US death toll from Covid-19 has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours of President Donald Trump’s office, whose handling of the outbreak has been criticised by public health experts.
The running total is nearly equal to the number of Americans killed in World War Two.
While the Trump administration has been credited with the country’s vaccination distribution program ‘Operation Warp Speed’, Mr Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus.
But the White House had defended the administration.
“We grieve every single life lost to this pandemic,” said White House spokesperson Judd Deere.
“Thanks to the President’s leadership, Operation Warp speed has led to the development of multiple safe and effective vaccines in record time, something many said would never happen.”
With additional reporting from AAP.
