President Biden will begin a three-day tour of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, with a speech on Tuesday that will focus on taxes and contrast the policies of former President Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Biden is expected to speak about tax law in the context of economic equity in his hometown of Scranton, saying that while Mr. Trump's tax cuts benefited billionaires, his own policies hurt working and middle-class people. He claims to have helped the family.
Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign's communications director, said in a call with reporters that the president “understood how President Trump's tax plan is a handout to the wealthy and leaves the middle class burdened. I will outline it.” “This speech raises a simple question: Do you think the tax code should apply to the wealthy, corporations, or the middle class?”
All of this is standard fare in an election year. But the background to Biden's campaign swings is not even more unusual. In an unprecedented trial, Mr. Trump will spend much of this week and the next month or two in a Manhattan courtroom facing criminal charges. Democrats hope the contrast between Biden campaigning and carrying out his presidential duties while Trump's lawyers maintain his innocence will highlight the choices voters will face in November. There is.
And Mr. Biden will also have to contend with the fallout from Iran's attack on Israel over the weekend, which raised new concerns about a broader regional war in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, the day after Tax Day, Biden is likely to push through his plan to reform the tax code, including expanding the child tax credit, creating a tax credit for first-time homebuyers and making a permanent tax credit for homebuyers. He obtains health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
He often asks his campaign audiences, “Does anyone think the tax code is fair?”
Pennsylvania is a key target for both the Biden and Trump campaigns. Biden's easiest path to reelection is to win the so-called blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In 2020, he narrowly defeated Trump in Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes. Opinion polls predict another close race in the nation's most populous and battleground state.
Trump held a large rally in eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday. Both he and Biden, who spent much of their childhood in Scranton, have sought to emphasize their ties to the state. “I went to school here, right?” Trump, a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, reminded the audience. “I went to school in Pennsylvania. I love Pennsylvania.”
Biden's campaign has invested heavily in opening offices and hiring staff across the state, but the Pennsylvania Democratic Party wants him to stay in the state, a key stronghold of Democratic voters and one that is logistically convenient to visit. They are urging him to expand his visits beyond Philadelphia. They argue it is essential that Mr. Biden campaign not only in western Pennsylvania, but also in battleground states like Erie County, which Mr. Biden flipped in 2020.
This week, Biden is doing just that. After leaving Scranton, he is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on Wednesday and give an official speech at the United Steelworkers headquarters. Labor unions are a key Democratic constituency, and Biden has expressed opposition to the Japanese company's bid to buy U.S. Steel, a move that his backing steelworkers union also opposes.
He is scheduled to campaign in Philadelphia on Thursday.
While the economy will be a focus of Biden's tour, Democrats are also trying to put abortion at the top of their agenda, directly linking Trump to abortion bans in many states, most recently Arizona.
Ahead of Trump's visit to Pennsylvania over the weekend, the Democratic National Committee unveiled billboards in the eastern part of the state.
“Because of President Trump, more than 20 states have extreme abortion bans,” the sign read in English and Spanish. “If he has his way, Pennsylvania could be next.”
Abortion is legal in the state until the 24th week of pregnancy, but there are exceptions after that, and with a Democratic governor in office, it seems highly unlikely that any restrictions will be imposed. Democrats have argued that if Trump is re-elected, he would sign a federal bill banning abortion. Trump last week reversed his position during his tenure in the White House and said he had no intention of doing so.
michael gold Contributed reporting from Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.