Biden casts 2024 election ballot near his Delaware home, waiting in line with other voters

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden has cast an early ballot in the 2024 general election.

It’s a bittersweet moment for Biden, who decided to end his reelection campaign in July because of growing concerns about his health and Democrats’ worries about his chances of defeating former President Donald Trump. Biden voted on Monday at the state of Delaware Department of Elections, not far from his home outside Wilmington, Delaware at an early voting site, where voters were lined up down the street to cast ballots.

Biden chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who was ahead of him. The president waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

As the president cast his ballot behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.

Outside the polling place, Biden was asked if he thought Democrats – including Vice President Kamala Harris – would win.

“I think we will,” he said.

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has either held office or been running for one during election season.

But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history.

Harris, whom Biden endorsed after dropping out, is vying to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president.

State Sen. Sarah McBride is looking to become the first openly transgender member of the U.S. House.

McBride, a longtime friend of the Biden family, had served as an aide in then-President Barack Obama ‘s administration and on the campaigns in 2006 and 2010 for the president’s late son Beau Biden’s runs for Delaware attorney general. She also worked for former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell.

McBride hopes to succeed Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who wants to become Delaware’s first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. She has served as Delaware’s lone representative in the House since 2017.

On Monday, Biden had breakfast Blunt Rochester. He’s known her family for decades, and campaigned with her father, Theodore “Ted” Blunt, who served on the Wilmington City Council for almost a quarter century, including as president. Biden on Sunday evening formally endorsed Blunt Rochester, cutting a video for her campaign in which he called her “Delaware through and through.”

Blunt Rochester is vying to succeed Sen. Tom Carper, who has held the seat since 2001 in the solidly Democratic state. He is retiring.

Early voting in Delaware began on Saturday.