| “ | To know Beau Biden is to know which choice he made in his life. To know Joe and the rest of the Biden family is to understand why Beau lived the life he did. For Beau, a cruel twist of fate came early... | ” |
On May 20th, 2015, Beau Biden experienced a recurrence of his brain cancer. A disease he spent several years fighting, it eventually took his life on May 30th, 2015. Beau was 46 years old. He is survived by his wife and two children, his father and stepmother, and two younger siblings.
Beau Biden's father, Vice President Joe Biden, was considering running for the Democratic Nomination in 2016. Had Biden entered the race, he would be facing several strong challengers, including Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders, Governor Martian O'Malley, and more. Faced with a difficult primary, and the death of his son, Biden announced in October of 2015 that he would not pursue a third run at the presidency.
But what if Beau's cancer had stayed in remission? What happens if Beau Lives and Biden launches a run at the presidency. His entrance would be late in the game, and he would be trailing Hilary in the polls, plus more candidates could always launch their own bids, further complicating the primaries. Sanders, while lagging behind both Biden and Hilary, was gaining popularity. Could Biden win the nomination and unite the democratic party? Even if he cleared the primaries, could Biden defeat Donald Trump and win the White House? Its a question that many asked themselves after Election Night in 2016.
The following timeline will explore the implications of a Beau Biden's survival, and explore the implications of the consequential White House run that Joe Biden would launch.
Important Pages[]
- Timeline
- Joe Biden, 45th President of the United States
- Elizabeth Warren, 48th Vice President of the United States
- 115th Congress of the United States
- 2016 Presidential Election
- Democratic Presidential Primaries
Summary of Key Changes[]
This timeline features the small change described above that compounds into several major changes. A Few of the notable ones:
- Hillary Clinton does not become the Democratic Nominee. Although intially at a disadvantage, Biden launches a presidential bid and eventually succedes in winning the nomination.
- Bernie Sanders does not attract the same media attention he does in OTL, nor does he get as much focus in the debates. This is because when Biden announces, Sanders is still relatively under the radar. Sanders does receive a slight bump after a strong debate performance in the Second Debate, but ultimately his campaign remains at around the 15%. After failing to win the New Hampshire Primary, Sanders suspends his campaign.
- With Sanders effectively a non-entity, the deep divides within the Democratic Party do not show themselves as early, and as a result the "Justice" Democrats or "Berniecrats" do not gain mainstream focus and the democratic party, for now, is more unified due to a lack of press focus on the divides within the party. These divides, however, still exist. All it takes is for someone to reveal them...
- As stated before, Biden eventually wins the nomination and the general election, 318 - 220 electoral votes. Unlike OTL, There isn't any faithless electors for president. An attempt is made by a Washington Elector to cast a vote for Faith Spotted Eagle, but the elector is forced to resign and is replaced at the discression of the Washington Secretary of State.
- With a stronger top of the ballot candidate, Democrats retake the senate, winning Wisconsin, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, on top of the races they won OTL. Democrats still don't control the house, but they made more gains towards controlling it.