The man walks into the Wilmington coffee shop wearing a tailored suit that speaks of K Street success but carries himself with the careful demeanor of an old junkie pimp who knows every eye in the room is watching. Absolved of all his crimes, the freshly-pardoned Hunter Biden orders his coffee black and settles into a corner booth, away from the windows where the December wind rattles against the glass. The whispers follow him like autumn leaves skittering across pavement.
Politics loves nothing more than a redemption story. Delaware's senate seat will sit empty once stale and pale senior Democrat Tom Carper steps away, waiting for someone with the right mixture of name recognition, empty credentials, and hard-won folk wisdom about life's darker corners. Hunter Biden checks every box on that list, a Yale Law graduate who has seen both the highest halls of power and the lowest valleys of public scandal.
The younger Biden represents something uniquely American in these fractured times. While the X mobs and cable news shouters may paint him in broad strokes of black and white (or clouds of smoke from various narcotics), the reality carries all the complex shades of a Wilmington sunset. Here stands a man who, owing to the raw power of name recognition and nepotism, held a senior position at the World Food Programme, served on the board of Amtrak, and built a legal career that would make most Delaware voters nod in approval. The struggles with addiction that nearly destroyed him have become a story of recovery that resonates in a state where opioids have torn through communities like a coastal storm.
Delaware knows the Biden name. They sent his father to the Senate seven times, watched him ascend to the vice presidency, and then to the highest office in the land. The family's story intertwines with Delaware's modern history like steel cables in a suspension bridge. But Hunter offers something his father never could—the raw authenticity of a fail-son who’s fallen, fought his way back up, and emerged with the kind of battle scars that make perfect sense to anyone who’s ever struggled.
The numbers paint an interesting picture. Delaware remains solidly Democratic, with a voter base that appreciates both progressive values and business-friendly policies. Hunter's background in international business law and his intimate understanding of how Washington really works could appeal to the state's all-important financial sector. His personal struggles with addiction and recovery speak to the working-class voters in Dover and along the coast.
Consider the political landscape. The Republicans will likely put up a candidate cut from traditional Chris Sununu/Prescott Bush-style corporate cloth, someone who can speak fluently about credit card regulations and corporate tax policy. But Hunter Biden could talk about those same issues while adding something more—a first-hand understanding of how policy decisions in Washington ripple the real lives of players (playas, one might say) trying to pay for a night of devil-take-the-hindmost debauchery with an over-the-limit Amex card. He has lived both sides of the American dream, from the privileged perch of a senator's son to the humbling reality of public scrutiny and personal struggle.
The campaign writes itself. While opponents would inevitably try to exploit his past, Hunter could do something radical—own it completely. Every recovered addict knows that honesty’s the foundation of a new life. A campaign built on radical transparency about his trashy past and drug-addict insights could resonate powerfully in an era where voters are tired of polished political automatons who claim they've never made a serious mistake.
Picture the debates. When his opponent inevitably brings up his troubled past, Hunter could lean into the microphone and say something like, "You're right. I've smoked crack and slept with working girls. I’ve made mistakes that lesser folks might regret forever. But I've also picked myself up, taken the pipe away from my lips, gotten a presidential pardon from my dad, and relaunched my political career. How many Delaware families have similar stories? Don't they deserve a senator who understands their struggles firsthand?"
The skills are there. Nepotism or not, Yale Law doesn't hand out degrees to people who can't think on their feet. His work with Amtrak shows that he, like his train-riding papa, understands some of the commuter issues crucial to his state. His international business experience, whatever controversy it has generated, means he comprehends the palm-greasing nature of global economics in a way few candidates can match.
Even the timing feels right. Delaware voters, like Americans everywhere, seem ready for something different. The old political playbook of pretending to be perfect while hiding every flaw has lost its power. Hunter Biden represents something new—a candidate, like Trump before him, whose flaws and failures are already public knowledge, who has nothing left to hide and therefore nothing left to fear.
Would it be easy? Politics never is. The attack ads write themselves too. But in a strange way, Hunter's greatest liabilities could become his strongest assets. Every parent who has watched a child struggle with addiction, every professional who has faced public humiliation, every person who’s had to rebuild a life from the ashes of bad decisions—they might see something of themselves in this bad boy still trying to make good.
Delaware's political tradition values independence and authenticity. They kept reelecting Joe Biden not because he was perfect, but because he was real. Hunter Biden, with all his scars and stories, might be exactly what Delaware voters are looking for—someone who understands that sometimes you have to lose your map completely before you can find your true path forward.
The coffee grows cold as Hunter Biden fires off a few fun sexts to the shorties and prepares to head back out into the Wilmington afternoon. The whispers still follow him, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. In politics, being talked about beats being ignored. The First State has always known how to spot a good story. This could be the beginning of their next great one.