So Much for Middle-Class Joe: Biden Raked in Millions After Leaving the White House

As a senator, former Vice President Joe Biden earned the nickname Amtrak Joe, for the frequent train trips he took between Washington, D.C., and his home state of Delaware. According to CNN, by 2008 he had logged 8,200 miles, and the ritual added to the everyman aura of the man who called himself Middle-Class Joe. Today, however, that nickname may more of a memory than an accurate reflection of Biden’s current wealth.

He now commands up to $200,000 for a single speech and pays an estimated $20,000 per month in rent on his Washington, D.C., home. There’s also a primary residence in Wilmington, Del., and a $2.7 million vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., according to The Washington Post.

Biden, as Post reporter Matt Viser explains, may recall being “the poorest member of the U.S. Senate” on the campaign trail, “But since leaving office he has enjoyed an explosion of wealth, making millions of dollars largely from book deals and speaking fees that ranged to as much as $200,000 per speech, public documents show.”

The Post also found, via additional public documents requests, that “As Biden traveled the country before announcing his presidential campaign this spring, his sponsors provided VIP hotel suites, town cars and professional drivers, chartered flights and travel expense reimbursements that for some of his appearances reached at least $10,000 per event.”

There were also at least 10 events for which Biden was not paid (although in some situations he was reimbursed for expenses). His campaign told the Post that he’s given fewer than 50 paid speeches—but did not provide more specifics and declined to speak on the record for the Post story.

The fees Biden did receive however, were in sharp contrast to what he earned during a 44-year career in public service, at least according to the tax returns the Post reviewed. The combined gross income for Biden and his wife Jill was $215,432 in 1998, the first year returns were available, and remained around that amount until 2009, when another $55,000 was added in Social Security and pension income. Biden has yet to release a candidate financial disclosure form, which would provide a more complete picture of his current income.

While $215,000 is out of reach for the average American family, Biden can now make almost that much for just one speech. According to Publisher’s Weekly, his two-book deal is worth $8 million.

Viser suggests that Biden’s post-vice presidency wealth puts him in “a much more rarefied world that the one he formerly occupied, and “[runs] the risk of cutting against a core message of his campaign: that unique among the presidential candidates, he can connect with and represent the middle class.”

Since officially announcing his run for president, Biden has stopped giving paid speeches. It’s unclear whether revelations of his newfound wealth with impact his standing with voters. Ahead of the first Democratic debates, multiple polls show him as the front-runner among Democratic voters.