Joe Biden's Daughter Ashley Biden Opens Up About Safety Fears Ahead Of Inauguration Day
She has some valid points.
Pix_Arena / Shutterstock All eyes are on Joe Biden as he gears up for Inauguration Day with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The long-time Senator from Delaware and former Vice President under President Obama has always made his family one of the centerpieces of his political identity.
His wife and children were often visible in his previous campaigns, but his five grandchildren are stealing the show this time around.
His youngest daughter, Ashley Biden, recently opened up about safety concerns ahead of her father's Inauguration Day.
Who is Ashley Biden, Joe Biden's daughter?
Read on to find out what you need to know about Joe Biden's youngest daughter, Ashley Biden.
Ashley Biden is Biden's youngest daughter.
Most political observers know the story of Joe Biden’s first wife and baby daughter dying in a car crash shortly after he was first elected to the Senate in 1972.
His two sons, Hunter and Beau, survived the crash, and he raised them as a single father, commuting daily from their home in Delaware to DC and back again. In 1977, he married his current wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and the couple had Ashley in 1981.
Ashley Biden has a degree in social work.
After getting an undergraduate degree from Tulane and a master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, Ashley has been working as a social worker and is also a business owner.
Her LinkedIn profile says she was a Clinical Support Specialist at NHS Children’s Reach Clinic in Philadelphia, an Employment and Education Specialist at West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington, Delaware, and an Education and Employment Liaison at the Delaware Department of Services for Youth and their Families.
She then went on to be the executive director of the Delaware Center for Justice. At this non-profit, she worked to help offenders find ways to complete their sentences without going to prison and she helped felons reenter society after their sentence was over.
DCJ was previously known as the Prisoners Aid Society and lists its mission as, “The Delaware Center for Justice, Inc. is the leading non-profit organization in Delaware committed to transforming the quality of justice through advocacy, policy, and practice.”
Ashley left her role there in early 2019 to focus on her non-profit Livelihood.
Ashley Biden founded a charity.
Ashley founded Livelihood, a clothing brand that would donate a portion of proceeds to community development initiatives.
She says on the Livelihood website:
“My focus today is on the pursuit of my dream for community impact through innovative philanthropy, community reinvestment, and community empowerment via fashion. Livelihood is not about me, it’s about, We.
This is a brand that is all-inclusive, non-partisan, and empowering. The goal is to educate one another about economic inequality in the United States, celebrate extraordinary everyday people, provide funding for economic advancement, restore decision making at the community level, and provide cozy, functional, and sleek hoodies.”
The first collection of hoodies was launched in 2017 and were sold in partnership with the website Gilt, raising over $30,000, which Ashley says was deposited in the Delaware Community Foundation Livelihood fund.
However, the Livelihood Instagram page hasn't been updated since 2017, and it looks like the website is no longer functional.
She memorialized her brother, Beau Biden.
The brand is a passion project for Ashley, a way of synthesizing her personal interests and her professional expertise.
It was started after the death of her older brother Beau in 2015. Even the logo — an arrow pulled back in a bow, just about to launch — is a tribute to her feelings after his passing.
She said that her logo demonstrates how “we have to sometimes be pulled all the way down to shoot forward. He was my bow. His cancer brought me to my knees. I had no choice but to shoot forward, keep going, keep aiming at my own dreams.”
What was Ashley Biden's role in her father's presidential campaign?
Ashley has been part of Joe Biden's campaigns for her entire life, appearing in parades and town halls from the time she was two years old.
At the beginning of her father's campaign, she said, “When we get closer, I’ll get much more involved.”
In August 2020, she held a virtual meeting of the Wisconsin Women For Biden. The event was about child care, pay gaps, and reproductive rights.
She said, "I'm here today because I adore my father, but I also deeply believe he has the character and the vision to lead this country."
In addition, she said to the group:
"When I say I’m ready for a Biden presidency, it’s not just because I think my dad is the best person. With my dad as president, he will help us solve some of the great challenges of our generation... And he has the empathy and fortitude to help us address the racial and economic disparities that undermine all communities... Make no mistake, women will decide this election. Women of color will decide this election.”
She recently opened up about the night Joe Biden won, and commented on the Capitol riots.
Biden revealed that she was with her father on the night that he learned that he had won the 2020 election.
"It was a little nerve-wracking, I mean, it did last for days," she said. "When we finally got the news, I was taking a nap, and all of a sudden I hear screaming downstairs and I jumped up and ran down, and that's when, you know, we had won Pennsylvania."
In the same interview, the 39-year-old clothing designer weighed in on the Captiol riots that took place in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.
"To see what happened really ... to see what was going on ... I mean, it was truly horrifying," she said.
"The violence deeply saddens me. And it causes so much trauma," Biden added of the pro-Trump mob that swarmed the Capitol.
She also admitted she was concerned about her father's safety ahead of Inauguration Day because of the riots.
"I think anybody you know that you love who's being threatened, yes, you worry," Ashley replied to Jenna Bush Hager's question if she was "scared for the safety of her loved ones."
"However, the Secret Service are incredible," Biden added.
Here's to hoping for a safe Inauguration Day.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted in July 2019 and was updated with the latest information.