Joe Biden gives emotional farewell in Delaware before heading to DC for inauguration

In an emotional farewell, President-elect Joe Biden promised that even as he departs for Washington, D.C., to be sworn in, “I’ll always be a proud son of the state of Delaware.”

Speaking Tuesday at an event at the National Guard headquarters in Delaware named for his late son, Beau, Biden’s voice became thick with emotion as he told the crowd that “when I die, I’ve got Delaware written on my heart.” He said that “it’s deeply personal that our next journey to Washington starts here — the place that defines the very best of who we are as Americans.”

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Biden gave farewell remarks to about 100 people, including numerous Delaware elected officials and members of Biden’s family.

He’s leaving Wilmington via plane Tuesday afternoon and will appear at a memorial for COVID-19 victims at the Lincoln Memorial in the evening. Biden will spend the night at Blair House, the president’s official guesthouse, before moving into the White House after he is sworn in Wednesday.

Biden, an avid fan of Amtrak, had planned to take a train into Washington ahead of Inauguration Day, but scratched that plan in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

He’ll instead fly into a military airbase just outside the capital and motorcade into fortress D.C. — a city that’s been flooded by some 25,000 National Guard troops guarding a Capitol, White House and National Mall that are wrapped in a maze of barricades and tall fencing.

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