At another site where Biden was speaking in Scranton, a very different group of protesters gathered, supporting Donald Trump. They held signs reading “Joe Biden: You’re fired” and waved flags bearing the former president’s name. Asked by a local host about the proliferation of pro-Trump signs across Pennsylvania, Biden bristled: “Well, you didn’t drive in the right places, buddy. … He is not present here.
At other times, Biden has found himself facing much friendlier terrain during his three terms.–The day swept across Pennsylvania, as large pro-Biden crowds materialized and their supporters shouted, “Four more years” or “We love you, Joe.” One group held a sign reading “Scranton Loves Joe!”
The question for Biden, as he sets out in earnest to win a state that matters enormously to him personally and politically, is how all of these fractious feelings will play out in November, in Pennsylvania and across the country. In many ways, Pennsylvania is a microcosm of the United States — a Democratic operative once described it as two metropolitan areas with Alabama in between — and strategists will be paying close attention to the Democratic and Republican primaries in state Tuesday to find clues about which party won. momentum.
“Look, you’re my ticket to the White House: you, Pennsylvania,” Biden told a group of campaign workers in Philadelphia on Thursday. “No, that’s not hyperbole. You are the ticket to the White House.
Polls show the race is essentially tied between Biden and Trump, and both campaigns expect the state — which voted for Trump by 0.72 percent in 2016 before switching to Biden by 1.17 % in 2020 – finds itself on the wire in 2024.
In a recent memo on Pennsylvania, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez pointed out that Democrats won statewide elections there in 2018, 2020 and 2022, as voters turned strongly opposed to Trump’s policies, from abortion to voter denial.
But Biden’s visit highlighted his challenge as an outgoing president at a time when many voters are concerned about the economy and the direction of the country, while others oppose his stance on Gaza and where the nation as a whole is deeply polarized. Speaking to supporters in Scranton on Tuesday, Biden reflected on the level of animosity he has faced across the country.
“I never thought I’d see a moment where I’m driving through a neighborhood or a rural town in the West and see big signs with a Trump sign in the middle that says ‘F Biden,’ and have a little kid standing there with his middle finger – 7 years, 8 years,” Biden said. “Well, I promise, it happens all the time.
David Urban, a Republican strategist who led Trump’s successful effort to flip Pennsylvania in 2016, said his travels across the state convinced him that Biden was grappling with its residents, many of whom blame him for high cost of living and the policies they are considering. as hostile to the local energy industry.
“The current president is pushing a big boulder up a hill, trying to convince people that things aren’t as bad as they are,” Urban said.
Last week, Biden pushed hard.
He launched a populist speech in Scranton. He embraced unions while speaking to steelworkers in Pittsburgh. He made stops at Sheetz and Wawa, a nod to his hometown convenience stores whose respective merits are hotly debated, as well as the type of retail businesses that political advisers say will be key to helping the 81-year-old president to connect with skeptical voters.
And Biden finished his trip Thursday by visiting a majority-black neighborhood in Philadelphia, where he accepted support from family members of his most important third-party rival, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
As Biden’s birthplace and largest battleground state — home to 19 crucial Electoral College votes — Pennsylvania looms large in the president’s personal and political history. It’s a state that both Democrats and Republicans view as crucial to victory, and it serves as a key test of whether ordinary Americans believe his performance as president warrants another term.
That’s largely why Biden has spent so much time in Pennsylvania, which has the added benefit of being close to both Washington and his home state of Delaware.
Like Biden, who has already visited the state several times this year, Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has also prioritized Pennsylvania. His aides and allies see it as a central pillar in their efforts to tear down the revered “blue wall” of Democrats in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – as Trump did in 2016 but not in 2020.
With a population of about 13 million comprised of large urban centers, rapidly growing suburbs, millions of blue-collar workers and vast rural swathes, Pennsylvania reflects many of the trends shaking up the nation’s political landscape. Since 1960, no Democrat has won the presidency without carrying the state.
At a recent rally ahead of his criminal trial in New York, Trump told a packed crowd in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, that Biden was responsible for high inflation, global instability and the general malaise weighing on the country.
“All of America knows that the real culprit for this nightmare lies with one person: crooked Joe Biden,” Trump said. “That’s why the people of Pennsylvania are going to tell Crooked Joe, ‘You’re fired.’ To go out. You are fired.'”
Biden’s drive through the state provided insight into how he will respond to such attacks, as aides noted that he made a point of addressing several constituencies that helped propel him to the White House in 2020.
On Tuesday, the president visited his childhood home after giving a speech contrasting his views on taxes with those of Trump, saying he represented the scrappy values of Scranton while Trump reflected the morals centered on money from Mar-a-Lago in Florida. His pitch to the United Steelworkers union on Wednesday included a populist pledge to protect U.S. industry from unfair foreign competition, including tripling tariffs on Chinese-made steel if necessary. He also criticized Trump, joking that the former president – who was in New York for a trial – was “busy right now.”
His speech Thursday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center in Philadelphia targeted the city’s large population of black voters. John White Jr., a former state representative and civil rights leader, introduced Biden by praising his record on strengthening “black livelihoods,” and the president was accompanied around the city by Mayor Cherelle Parker (D).
Throughout the trip, Biden highlighted his personal ties to the state, where first lady Jill Biden grew up — she often mentions her fondness for Philadelphia sports teams — and where the Bidens had their first date . He talked about launching his 2020 campaign in Pittsburgh and looking to Philadelphians to bolster his Senate campaigns over the years. He said he was nicknamed Pennsylvania’s “third senator” because of his frequency in making news in Philadelphia, which shares a media market with his hometown of Wilmington.
At the same time, the Biden campaign unleashed an advertising blitz targeting key groups in the state, including Black residents and Hispanic voters in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, as well as an accelerated ground operation aimed in part at containing Trump’s margins. in rural and peri-urban areas of the state. The Trump campaign’s presence on the ground is more limited than Biden’s, which now includes more than a dozen offices and a mix of paid staff and volunteers.
This advantage in fundraising and campaign infrastructure will pay dividends for Biden in the future, said Brendan McPhillips, a senior campaign adviser who managed Biden’s 2020 race in Pennsylvania and the successful campaign of Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) in 2022.
“There’s a huge gap between what the presidential campaign did and what they’re doing now, and Trump, who came to the state once or twice for very brief visits,” McPhillips said, adding that the Biden campaign plans to open a dozen more. Offices across Pennsylvania, including in some pro-Trump areas, in the coming months.
But for Trump allies, the negative emotions generated by Biden during his visit suggest he will struggle to achieve his goals in areas of the state where he needs strong turnout to overcome Republican dominance in rural counties.
“This ’24 run feels a lot more like ’16 than ’20,” Urban said. “The antipathy toward Biden — I won’t say it’s the same as toward Clinton, but it’s definitely there. The chants of “FJB” are louder than ever.
Like Hillary Clinton, Biden faced backlash from progressive voters. His support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, in particular, cost him the support of key voting groups, including many young people, Arab Americans and some black voters.
In Pennsylvania, organizers aim to convince some 40,000 voters to write in “no commitment” rather than vote for Biden in Tuesday’s primary. Given Pennsylvania’s slim margins, even a small number of defections in November could tip the scales.
Biden’s team hopes voters in the state will listen more to other voices, like those of the Kennedy family members who rallied in support of him in Philadelphia on Thursday.
“We want to make clear our feeling that the best path forward for America is to re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for four more years,” said Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) . said during this event. “President Biden has been a champion of all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for. »
washingtonpost
