Joe Biden visits son's grave and childhood home to kickstart Election Day

Months of campaigning and a politically eventful year later, Election Day has finally arrived and the candidates have placed their fate in the hands of the voters. CNN reports that more than 100 million people already cast their votes prior to Tuesday, November 3, thanks to early voting. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are spending the day making last-minute appeals to their supporters in key states, whose electoral college wins could tip the scales in the respective party's favor. 

Former Vice President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden began his day in Wilmington, Delaware, visiting St. Joseph’s church along with his wife Dr. Jill Biden, and two of their granddaughters. After mass, Biden went to the cemetery to visit the grave of his son Beau Biden, who passed away in 2015. According to Newsweek, Biden had remarked over the course of the presidential race that he was inspired by the memory of Beau. Biden then made his way to Pennsylvania to stop by his childhood home in Scranton, where he signed one of the walls of the living room, reports Politico. The message reads, "From this house to the White House with the grace of God. Joe Biden 11-3-2020." This is not the former vice president's first visit back there. In 2008, the current owner had asked him to sign a wall in his childhood bedroom when he had stopped by as Obama's running mate. "I am home," he wrote on September 1, 2008.

USA Today also reported that the former vice president spent some time thanking voters in his hometown. In an inspiring speech, Biden stated that he was not being "melodramatic" when he said that he wanted to "restore the soul of the country." He declared, "I want to restore basic decency and honor to the White House." Biden has consistently supported the working class and unions and highlighted that the backbone of the country was the middle class. He concluded his speech saying, "Basically, I came to say thank you and thank you and thank you," while the crowd cheered. Besides this visit, Biden also will be doing voter-mobilization events in Scranton as well as Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a battleground state with 20 electoral college votes which the Democrats lost in 2016, so it appears that the Biden campaign is making all efforts to ensure a favorable result this time. Later in the day, Biden and his wife, along with his running mate Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will return to Biden's home state to address the nation, reports PEOPLE. As seen throughout the campaign, the event will be restricted to family, staff, and members of the media. 

Meanwhile, President Trump rang in Election Day with a call on Fox & Friends first thing in the morning. The president appeared on the show just as polls opened across the country, and seeming exhausted and sounding hoarse, presumably scheduled to raise morale among his base, reports The Independent. Trump spent his time attacking his opponent and complaining that the job had been "mean." The president, to the hosts' surprise, also stated, “Somebody said what’s the difference between this and four years ago, and I say Fox." On his opponent Joe Biden, whom he said wasn't "prime-time", he made his usual remarks, “In the old days you wouldn’t put Sleepy Joe on every time he opens his mouth. You had Democrats on more than you had Republicans. I’m not complaining — I’m just telling people.”

The president then went on to visit his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, where he was greeted by several supporters on the streets as well as campaign staff, reports NBC. There, he thanks his campaign personnel and made brief remarks. When asked if he had prepared acceptance and concession speeches, the president said, “I’m not thinking about a concession speech or acceptance speech yet ... You know, winning is easy. Losing is never easy — not for me, it’s not.” Following this visit, Trump headed back to the White House, where he and Vice President Pence are expected to be spending the rest of the day. According to PEOPLE, the White House is organizing an event in the evening, which is expected to be attended by at least 250 guests, despite COVID-19 regulations mandating events to host a crowd of no more than 50 people. Mere weeks after he and several members of the White House contracted the coronavirus, President Trump's attitude towards the pandemic and safety precautions continues to be lackadaisical.