13-year-old boy who bonded with Biden over stutter steals the final night of the DNC

(Image credit: Twitter/DNC)

published 21 August 2020

The final night of the Democratic National Convention was a star-studded affair, stacked with beloved celebrities and respected politicians — but it was 13-year-old Brayden Harrington who stole the show. "About a few months ago I met [Joe Biden] in New Hampshire," Brayden said. "He told me that we were members of the same club: we stutter. It was really amazing to hear that someone like me became vice president."

Brayden explained that Biden had taken him backstage told him about how he marks up his speeches in order to make them easier to say them out loud — "so I did the same thing today." He added, "I'm just a regular kid, and in a short amount of time, Joe Biden made me more confident about something that's bothered me my whole life. Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he could do for all of us."

Biden has been open about his lifelong struggle with stuttering, stressing during a recent CNN town hall that "it has nothing to do with your intelligence quotient. It has nothing to do with your intellectual makeup." He said he keeps in touch with other people who stutter in order to remind them that it's "critically important for them not to judge themselves by their speech — not let that define them."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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