Biden votes early, casting his ballot in Delaware

President Biden voted early in the midterm elections on Saturday, casting a ballot in his home state of Delaware.

The president, who turns 80 next month, voted alongside his 18-year-old granddaughter Natalie Biden, who was voting for the first time. After Natalie voted, Biden placed an "I Voted" sticker on her shirt.

Election Day is 10 days away, and early in-person voting began in Delaware on Friday morning. As Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chair, noted, it’s “the first time that Delaware will have early voting in a general election.”

Last month, Biden flew to Wilmington as part of a quick last-minute trip to vote in the state’s Democratic primary, with nearly an hour left to spare before the polls closed. Roughly an hour after landing, the president and first lady Jill Biden flew back to Washington, D.C. The trip included the usual presidential security detail, two military flights, two motorcades and the use of Air Force One.

Speaking of that trip last month, which was not on Biden’s schedule, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “He thought it was important to exercise his constitutional right to vote … and set an example by showing the importance of voting.

“He also had the opportunity to say hello to poll workers and thank them for their work. And we know how under attack poll workers have been these past several years.”

The president’s vote comes as the Democrats face an uphill battle to keep control of Congress.

Biden’s vote on Saturday was part of a weekend trip to his Wilmington home. On Friday night, he and Vice President Kamala Harris attended a fundraiser in Philadelphia that was expected to raise $1 million for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. The state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, who was in attendance at the event, faces a close race with the Republican candidate, Mehmet Oz, for the U.S. Senate seat.