President Joe Biden receives a warm welcome from Philadelphia Democrats at their annual dinner on October 15, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
PHILADELPHIA— Speaking to a packed room full of Democrats with many signs reading “Thanks, Joe,” President Joe Biden campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday in the largest city in the largest swing state, mentioning her opponent, former President Donald Trump, ‘unhinged. ”
“Folks, we’re in the home stretch,” Biden told hundreds of people gathered for the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s GOTV dinner at the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19 hall.
“Kamala will move the country in her own direction, and that is one of the key differences in this election,” Biden said. “Kamala’s perspective on our problems will be fresh and new. Donald Trump’s perspective is old and failed, and quite frankly, thoroughly and completely dishonest.”
During Biden’s speech, which lasted just under 20 minutes, he promoted the record of the Biden-Harris administration.
“I’m one of the few people in America who has been vice president and president, and I know both jobs, what they require, and I can tell you: Kamala Harris has been a great vice president,” Biden said. “She will also be a great president.”
Biden also referenced his late son Beau Biden, who was attorney general of Delaware at the same time Harris served as AG in California, saying Beau told him that “she is an extraordinary leader. She is the next generation.”
“She has been that and more to me,” Biden said.
He also spent a lot of time serving as an attack dog by criticizing Trump.
“Trump wasn’t just a loser in 2020,” Biden said. “He is a loser in everything he does.”
Biden referred comments Trump made on August 30 that the United States was a “failing nation,” which Biden said made him angry.
Although Biden stepped down from the top of the ticket in July after a poor debate performance against Trump, the Trump campaign continues to link Harris to Biden in several attack ads. At a meeting in Pennsylvania on October 9Trump played a clip of Harris being interviewed on The View and her response that “nothing comes to mind” when asked if she would change anything from the past four years.
‘Every president must follow his own path. That’s what I did,” Biden said Tuesday night. “I was loyal to Barack Obama, but I chose my own path as president.”
“That’s what Kamala is going to do,” he added. “She has been loyal so far, but she is going to take her own path.”
Trump was last in the state on Monday for his first public campaign event in suburban Philadelphia. That event was supposed to be a town hall, although Trump ultimately answered just five questions after two apparent medical emergencies in the audience. Trump stood on stage for about 30 minutes and then swayed along to songs he liked.
Biden pointed to Monday’s Trump event and asked the crowd: “What’s wrong with this guy?”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Capital-Star.
Several Pennsylvania Democrats spoke ahead of Biden, including Lt. Governor Austin Davis.
He described Philadelphia as a “city of history makers,” pointing to large numbers in the city to help him become the state’s first black lieutenant governor, Joanna McClinton as the first black woman to serve as speaker of the Pennsylvania House and his belief that they will too. help propel Harris to the White House.
In the 2020 election, 92% of Black voters in Pennsylvania voted for Biden, while 7% voted for Trump, according to exit polling. Despite winning by huge margins among black voters, there was a gender disparity in Pennsylvania. Biden won with black women by 90% and with black men by 79%.
Recent national polls show Trump continuing to make some gains among black voters, especially men. The Harris campaign responded by announcing this recently a new plan aimed at courting those voters.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for the Harris-Walz ticket in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10 and discussed his concerns about Trump making gains from black men during a visit to a field office.
Davis painted an optimistic picture for the Harris campaign on Tuesday evening.
“And I know we had a little debate,” Davis said. “I see a lot of brothers in the room and I want to send a message that the brothers are ten toes behind Kamala Harris.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker praised the investments the Biden-Harris administration has made in Philadelphia since she was sworn in as mayor earlier this year, saying more than $900 million in federal funds has gone to help the city.
She also praised Biden’s character, describing when he called her the night she won her race to become the city’s 100th mayor. Biden spoke with her and her son Langston during the call.
“Philly, things like this that you don’t see on camera tell you something about someone’s integrity and character,” she said.
Parker also promoted Harris’ candidacy by bringing up her middle-class upbringing and her economic agenda.
Brady, chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, told reporters after Biden’s speech that the president called him Saturday evening and said, “I’ll come if you invite me” to dinner. Brady said he would invite him back to campaign in Philadelphia.
“We’re peaking at exactly the right time,” Brady told reporters Tuesday night.
The Harris campaign needs big numbers in Philadelphia, the state’s largest Democratic stronghold, to take Pennsylvania. Opinion polls show that Harris and Trump are in a tight battle for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.
Trump held a rally in Philadelphia during the summer and Voter trends have indicated that Republicans are making gains with working-class voters in the city.
But Brady said he is confident Democrats will produce the numbers needed to send Harris to the White House.
“Donald Trump said bad things happen in Philly and bad things will happen again in Philly,” Brady said. “For him. He needs to find another place to go.”
“He’s not coming back to Four Seasons, and Rudy won’t dye his hair… They’re crazy. They are crazy,” he added.
Harris will be in Bucks County on Wednesday, while Trump will reportedly hold a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday.
