Former Vice President Joe Biden is the last candidate standing in the democratic race for president. As democracy weathered the storm of COVID-19 in early April, Biden won the Wisconsin primary with the help of brave voters wearing essential pandemic gear.

Biden’s victory at the Wisconsin primary in early April led Bernie Sanders to suspend his campaign, clearing Biden’s path to the nomination.

An administration under Biden would be a step up from Trump’s 2016 term. Biden’s policies are moderate enough to generate votes and his veteran ability to navigate through political disagreements in pursuit of passing legislation will bring progress out of the legislative branch.

If forty plus years of public service holds any meaning, it’s that Biden has the fight in him to take over the oval office. Biden should be given the benefit of the doubt that he still has the mental aptitude to properly execute the office of the president. His political track record is very underrated and certainly exceeds that of the republican party’s nominee.

In 1988, while in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe Biden maintained a political relationship with republican senator, Strom Thurmond. Thurmond not only came from an opposing party, he was also a segregationist. Despite the stark contrast between their beliefs, the collaboration that prevailed between the two senators show Biden’s natural political ability to work with opposing politicians.

With the current political gridlock between the House and Senate consistently slowing the passage of legislation, the presidency needs a person like Joe Biden. His ability to collaborate with representatives from across the spectrum is a quality that would help him excel as President.

It’s possible, no matter who becomes president, that their term in office will be predetermined by the issue of defending the country from coronavirus, and recovering from the recession that it has brought. It is expected that the coronavirus and the unemployment and anticipate recession it will cause will be the most important issue for voters in the general election. It is now the primary focus for most presidential campaigns.

As our current president struggles to supply medical teams with equipment, Biden has been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus. Biden told NBC news that he’d not only use the Defense Production Act to make sure enough ventilators are available; but he would also do the same for medical masks, gowns, and shields.

Perhaps more progress would happen for the recovery from coronavirus if Biden had been president early this year. Biden has said that doctors, and not politicians, should be leading the country’s recovery effort. His administration would have had a more progressive approach to fighting the virus.

If Biden was the president through this pandemic, there would be results. Democratic measures have dug this country out of it’s deepest recessions. In this case, such measures might again be the way out.

On top of the pandemic issue, Joe Biden is the candidate to vote for if environmental and social equality issues are a top priority for voters. Biden will be most intent on reinstating the Affordable Care Act, ratifying anti-gun legislation, combating climate change, and increasing the budget on education.