Joe Biden is heading to Pennsylvania after his ‘garbage’ blunder

It wasn’t the way Vice President Kamala Harris wanted to spend the week before the election.

Heading into Election Day in a neck-and-neck race, Harris responded to President Joe Biden’s comments that appeared to call former President Donald Trump’s supporters “trash.”

Harris distanced herself from the quote, as she did from Biden during her abbreviated campaign. Biden clarified that he was referring to a shocked comedian who made a disparaging comment about Puerto Rico, and not to all Trump supporters. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Biden said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

Now the 81-year-old president, whose career spans 50 years of campaigning, is ramping up his political activities and heading to the key swing state in the race with just four days to go until Election Day.

On Friday, Biden will hold an official White House event in Philadelphia focused on unions. He will attend a political event in his hometown of Scranton on Saturday. Neither Harris nor Sen. Bob Casey, a longtime Biden ally, are likely to be within earshot. Harris will be out of Pennsylvania both days and Casey, who has similarly distanced himself from the president, will campaign in Beaver County when Biden visits Scranton.

Biden, who relinquished his party’s nomination in July, has a legacy at stake. According to those who know him well, he believes he can help Harris in Pennsylvania in the wavering days of the race, even amid gaffes that have left Democrats wary of what he might say in the spotlight.

“He loves campaigning — he wants to continue to be an important part of this campaign,” said Biden’s friend and fellow Delaware senator Chris Coons. “… I think Joe Biden is coming to Scranton and Philadelphia because he is loved, has a strong record and wants to remain part of the fight against Donald Trump.”

With a race so close and just four days to go, minimizing the risk of surprises is the goal, said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-based public affairs strategist.

“Right now it’s really all about Kamala Harris, and she needs separation from Biden,” Ceisler said. “The speeches and rallies now have to be about her, and they have to be inspiring. (Barack) Obama, (Bill) Clinton and others are better suited for that job than the president. The appreciation from the Democratic base is still there, but the need for him to show up is not.”

The “garbage” comment was just the latest example of a verbal spat. Speaking about Trump in New Hampshire earlier this month, Biden told Democratic campaign aides: “We have to lock him up.” He quickly found himself adding, “Lock him up politically. Shut him out. That is what we have to do.”

After a hero’s welcome at the DNC, where he was praised for renouncing the nomination under intense party pressure, Biden has been less present on the campaign trail. Harris has kept her boss at arm’s length as she tries to win a deadlocked race, while Biden remains unpopular with the majority of Americans, many of whom blame his administration for inflation.

Biden joined Harris in Pittsburgh in September. He and first lady Jill Biden chose Harris in mid-October. During that visit, Biden headlined a Philadelphia Democratic City Committee dinner chaired by longtime friend and former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady.

He did his part to help Harris distinguish himself, saying in Philadelphia, “I was loyal to Barack Obama, but I chose my own path as president. That’s what Kamala will do. She’s been loyal so far, but she’s going to follow her own path.”

Back on the road

For Biden, there is a lot at stake — and a long tie to the state that could determine who succeeds him.

“What’s at stake for him is at stake for everyone in this country,” Coons said, noting that a Trump victory would be a stark departure from the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities, especially on ways related to Biden’s legacy, such as his work to repair relationships abroad and boost support for Ukraine.

Coons warned that Trump tax cuts could give fewer people access to the Affordable Care Act, a hallmark of Obama and Biden’s terms in office. Coons said he sees a risk to manufacturing jobs, which have increased under Biden, if Trump halts his investments in electric vehicles.

Biden was often referred to as the third senator from Pennsylvania while in Congress, and he spent so much time here on the campaign trail that Pennsylvanians had something of a direct line to the White House.

Biden, who is that? Irish Catholic, lived in Scranton until his family moved to Delaware when he was 10, but the city became the theme of his 2020 race as he cast himself as a champion of the working class and unions.

“Scranton is a place that gets into your heart and never leaves,” Biden said in April during a visit when he was still a nominee. Biden has not hosted a public event in Scranton since renouncing the nomination. He attended a private funeral for a friend there about a month ago.

Northeastern Pennsylvania is a must-win region for both campaigns. Scranton allies said he still has a unique appeal there.

“I think he’s been in this game for a long time, and this is the World Series for politics, so … I think he wants to be in it now,” said Ed Mitchell, a longtime Democratic organizer in Lackawanna County . “In Scranton he is highly respected and honored as a native son.”

Virginia McGregor, a longtime Biden supporter and fundraiser, said Wednesday at a Harris rally in Harrisburg that Biden is “beloved” in his former hometown. ‘He’s our man. He’s excited to come home, and it’s about him coming home and making sure everyone knows what to do on Election Day.”

Still, even some allies processed the “nonsense” comment in view of his upcoming visit.

“Where Joe has missed the mark, as Hillary (Clinton) has missed the mark, is in putting the American citizens who may vote for the opponent in the same demeaning terms that they think of their opponent,” said Sam Waltz, a former chief from the statehouse for the News Journal in Delaware, which has known Biden for 50 years.

Waltz, who covered Biden, knows his family well and lives with him in Greenville. He became close to Biden’s late son, Beau Biden.

“Many, if not most, Trump voters are attracted to him not because they like or deify Trump, but rather because they are ‘issue voters’ or ‘values ​​voters.’ … By calling these people ‘rubbish,’ as Hillary called them ‘deplorables,’ Joe Biden risks ‘making it unnecessarily personal,'” Waltz said.

Coons dismissed the impact of Biden’s blunder.

“Joe Biden represents 50 years of dedicated public service,” his longtime friend said. “This is someone who they know in his heart is fighting for the middle class, for unions, to strengthen manufacturing, and doing his utmost to help the American people, and I think that’s the spirit in which they’ll see him received.”