As President Biden tours Pennsylvania, his campaign plans to run new ads touting its commitment to organized labor and attacking former President Donald J. Trump's economic policies.
The ad features Jojo Burgess, a steelworker and mayor of Washington, Pennsylvania, a small town southwest of Pittsburgh. Biden is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, where he is expected to ask trade representatives to raise some tariffs on steel and aluminum products from China.
“Donald Trump has proven throughout history that workers mean nothing to him,” Burgess said in the one-minute ad. “We currently have the most pro-American labor president in our country's history.”
The Biden campaign said it is spending “mid-six figures” to spread its message on television and digital platforms in Pennsylvania, apart from a $30 million ad campaign in key battleground states. They hope the ad will complement coverage of Biden's three-day trip to Pennsylvania, which is scheduled to end in Philadelphia on Thursday. Victory in the state, where he narrowly defeated Trump in 2020, is crucial to his re-election strategy.
The new ad amplifies the arguments Biden is making against Trump on the economy, accusing the former president of siding with billionaires over workers. Mr. Biden criticized Mr. Trump in his speech Tuesday in his hometown of Scranton explaining his own tax policy.
“He learned the best way to get rich is to inherit it,” Biden said of his rival.
Burgess, a Democrat, will be Biden's guest at the president's 2022 State of the Union address and became the first Black mayor of Washington, Pennsylvania, last year. The Biden campaign said it would run ads featuring Burgess on news programs and local sports networks.
The campaign also released a short ad featuring Burgess for digital platforms. In the ad, Burgess defends Biden against attacks from Trump and other Republicans about his age and mental fitness.
“When you meet him, this guy is as sharp as a knife,” Burgess says of the president. “They don't have anything else to attack because they can't attack what he's doing, which is very good for this country.”