Chicago -September 04, 2024
President Joe Biden reemerges on the campaign trail this week, entering a new political phase as he closes out his time in the White House and works to ensure Vice President Kamala Harris succeeds him.
Biden and Harris will kick off the final sprint to the election together on Labor Day, using the holiday to woo working-class voters with an event at a local union hall in Pittsburgh – a symbolic show of force in a city Biden himself often turned to at key points in his political career.
Biden’s campaign travel comes as he’s also navigating the latest developments in the Middle East after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages it says were killed by Hamas in Gaza. This included Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin,whose parents Biden and Harris each spoke to on Sunday.
The president is emerging with an initial roadmap running through Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan over the next five days, visiting the critical “blue wall” states where he narrowly beat former President Donald Trump in 2020. It will include a mix of campaign and official events to promote popular agenda items, offering a blueprint for how he’ll be deployed in the coming months.
His reentry also coincides with Harris scaling back her own public appearances as she shifts her focus to preparing for the September 10 presidential debate. Biden is filling the gap on her behalf in key battleground states this week.