Global Courant
President Joe Biden spoke to an audience of union members in Philadelphia on Saturday at what was his first rally since announcing his bid for a second term and comes as his campaign commitments intensify.
Biden is starting his 2024 campaign the same way he started his 2020 run: for the workers of Pennsylvania.
“I am a union man, period,” Biden said at his first meeting in 2019 at a union hall in Pittsburgh.
And just like then, Biden is leading the meeting with a rollout of union recommendations. The AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 national and international unions — including the national unions of teachers and government workers — backed Biden on the eve of the meeting. The federation, representing 12.5 million workers, is hosting the rally.
“The president and vice president are honored to have earned this historic tidal wave of support nearly 17 months before the 2024 election,” Biden campaign manager Julia Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (L) meet with labor leaders in the Oval Office of the White House on February 17, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Pete Marovich/Getty Images, FILE
Upon arriving in Philadelphia on Saturday, Biden received a helicopter ride over the collapsed section of I-95 in Philadelphia and said, “There is no more important project in the country right now” than rebuilding the freeway.
The president said he has instructed his team to “literally move heaven and earth” to complete reconstruction as quickly as possible and promised federal assistance.
“The federal government has committed, we are going to pay 100% for this phase of the work, and well over the first 200 days, then 90% of the work after that,” the president said. ‘We’ll stay here until the end. We’re not leaving until it’s done.’
President Joe Biden speaks at the Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, on June 17, 2023, after an aerial view of the collapsed Interstate 95 freeway.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Biden leaned on union groups in his 2020 White House candidacy, recouping some Rust Belt worker support that the Democrats lost in 2016 — and these groups are willing to use their vast political networks to regain voters for the president.
Pennsylvania, the state in which Biden was born, has played a significant role not only in the president’s political career, but also in national politics. Candidates who won Pennsylvania have been elected president 81% of the time since 1920, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
“If I can beat Donald Trump in 2020, it will happen here,” Biden said at the launch of his latest campaign. Pennsylvania would later carry Biden across the finish line.
President Joe Biden talks about his proposed federal budget for FY2024 at an event at the Finishing Trades Institute on March 9, 2023 in Philadelphia.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, FILE
Biden’s re-election campaign activity has been sluggish since the president announced his decision nearly two months ago — though the timing of the announcement aligned with the re-election campaign announcements of former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
But in recent days, the campaign has shifted into a different gear. The president attended a fundraiser in Connecticut on Friday, with receptions in Maryland and California later this month, while first lady Jill Biden had a fundraiser through New York and California earlier this week. Biden also addressed environmental groups on Wednesday and accepted their endorsement.
The campaign path will undoubtedly be more demanding than last time. The COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the Biden campaign to run virtually for much of 2020, with socially distanced events in the closing weeks of the race.
Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a second term, acknowledged in a February interview with ABC News’ David Muir that concerns about his age are “legitimate,” though he said it was not a consideration for him. However, two months later, the day after his re-election campaign was launched, the president said his age was a factor in his decision making.
“I respect that they’re looking into it,” Biden said in April. “I would also take a good look at it. I took a good look at it before I decided to run.”
Biden instead wants voters to focus on the work he has done, focusing his campaign on what he sees as his achievements and behind the message that Americans should give him another four years to “finish the job” ‘.
ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
