Biden will campaign for Harris in Scranton on Saturday

Amid numerous national media reports suggesting he has been sidelined by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, President Joe Biden will campaign for the Democratic ticket in his hometown of Scranton on Saturday, the final weekend before the election.

A source familiar with the trip said Biden will campaign for Harris-Walz and Democrats on the entire ballot. That likely includes support from another Scranton son, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (R-Pa.), who is in a tight reelection fight, with recent polls showing him neck and neck with GOP challenger Dave McCormick. No additional details about the trip were immediately provided Tuesday.

Biden spent the first 10 years of his life in Scranton before his family moved to Delaware. During an April campaign visit to Scranton, the president said that while he was still at the top of the Democratic ticket, the lessons he learned there stayed with him.

“Scranton is a place that sticks in your heart and never leaves,” Biden said. He compared the 2024 race to a competition between two sets of values: “Scranton values ​​or Mar-a-Lago values.”

Northeastern Pennsylvania is a must-win region of the Commonwealth in both campaigns.

‘Scranton values ​​or Mar-a-Lago values’: Biden stands for re-election in hometown

During former President Donald Trump’s successes 2016 campaigngained in Lackawanna County, where Scranton is located, and neighboring Luzerne County. Hillary Clinton carried Lackawanna County by 3.5 points over Trump, and Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney by 27 points 2012. In 2012, Obama carried Luzerne County by about 5 points.

In 2016, Trump flipped Luzerne County red by a nearly 20-point margin. Push in 2020Lackawanna remained blue and Luzerne County remained red, with Biden gaining in both. He won Lackawanna County by almost 8.5 points, and Trump won Luzerne County by about 14.5 points.

Biden’s last campaign trip for the Harris-Walz ticket was a low-key visit to Pittsburgh on Saturday, where he delivered pizza to volunteers at a field office and spoke at a rally with the International Union of North American Workers. He honored the audience of union members, adding that his father used to preach about the importance of work.

“My dad used to say, ‘Joey, there’s more to a job than just a paycheck. This is about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community. It’s about how people treat you and look at you,” he said.

Biden became the first sitting president to picket last year, joining workers in Michigan during the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, Ford and Chrysler maker Stellantis.

Union workers are a key group for Democrats, and Harris has not received the full support Biden received early in his re-election bid. The United Auto Workers and United Steelworkers Union announced their support for Biden early on.

But the Teamsters decided not to support a presidential candidate this year. with a survey of rank-and-file vehicle drivers showing they preferred Trump to Harris 59.6% to 34%. However, dozens of local Teamsters chapters, including several in Pennsylvania, announced their support for Harris.

Biden most recently campaigned with Harris in Pennsylvania over Labor Day, where the two spoke to union workers at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) hall on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

Saturday is shaping up to be one of the busiest days of the campaign calendar as candidates try to capture 19 electoral votes in key swing states, including Pennsylvania. Former first lady Michelle Obama will wrap up his first campaign in Pennsylvania, and Trump is expected to attend the Ohio State-Penn State game in State College.

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