The Lead

Facing attacks from Trump, Biden defends his commitment to Pennsylvania

By: - May 22, 2019 9:43 am

Former Vice President Joe Biden is hitting back at President Donald Trump for comments questioning his commitment to Pennsylvania. Biden was born in Scranton before moving with his family to Delaware as a child.

Biden kicked off his campaign in Pittsburgh three weeks ago, and last weekend held a Philadelphia rally to play up his blue collar narrative and Pennsylvania roots. Pennsylvania was one of three upper midwest states Trump flipped in 2016 from blue to red to win the presidency, and Democrats hope a candidate like Biden could win back those states.

An early leader in most 2020 Democratic presidential primary polls, Biden took to Twitter to fire back that Trump “doesn’t understand the struggles working folks go through.”

A recent Quinnipiac University poll had Biden up 53-42 on Trump in a hypothetical matchup.

The comments did not address Biden’s record on trade deals, which Trump repeatedly hammered at a campaign stop outside of Williamsport in Lycoming County.

Trump criticized Biden for supporting NAFTA, while claiming that Biden “left you for another state, and he didn’t take care of you because he didn’t take care of your jobs. He let other countries come in and rip off America.”

The visit came ahead of a Congressional special election in north-central PA that Republican Fred Keller handily won.

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Stephen Caruso
Stephen Caruso

Stephen Caruso is a former senior reporter with Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Before working with the Capital-Star he covered Pennsylvania state government for The PLS Reporter.

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