President Joe Biden receives a warm welcome from Philadelphia Democrats at their annual dinner Oct. 15, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
PHILADELPHIA — Speaking to a packed room of Democrats with many holding signs reading “Thank you, Joe,” President Joe Biden campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris in the biggest swing state’s biggest city on Tuesday, and called her opponent, former President Donald Trump “unhinged.”
“Folks, we’re in the home stretch,” Biden said to several hundred people gathered for the Philadelphia Democratic Party’s GOTV dinner at the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 19 hall.
“Kamala will take the country in her own direction, and that’s one of the most important 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, totally 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 that has been vice president and president, and I know both jobs, what they take, and I can tell you, Kamala Harris has been a great Vice President,” Biden said. “She’ll be a great president as well.”
Biden also referenced his late son Beau Biden, who served as attorney general of Delaware the same time Harris served as AG in California, and said Beau told him that “she’s an extraordinary leader. She’s the next generation.”
“She’s been that and more to me,” Biden said.
He also spent a great deal of time serving as an attack dog by criticizing Trump.
“Trump wasn’t only a loser in 2020,” Biden said. “He’s a loser in everything he does.”
Biden referenced comments Trump made on Aug. 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 following a poor debate performance against Trump, the Trump campaign continues to link Harris to Biden in various attack ads. During a rally in Pennsylvania on Oct. 9, Trump played a clip of Harris being interviewed on The View and her response that “nothing comes to mind” when asked if she’d change anything from the previous four years.
Trump campaigns in eastern Pennsylvania with rallies in Scranton and Reading
“Every president has to cut their own path. That’s what I did,” Biden said on Tuesday evening. “I was loyal to Barack Obama, but I cut my own path as President.”
“That’s what Kamala’s going to do,” he added. “She’s been loyal so far, but she’s going to cut her own path.”
Trump was most recently in the state on Monday for his first public campaign event in the Philadelphia suburbs. That event was scheduled to be a town hall, although Trump only ended up taking five questions following two apparent medical emergencies in the audience. Trump stood on stage for roughly 30 minutes swaying along to songs he likes afterward.
Biden pointed to the Monday Trump event and asked the audience “What’s wrong with this guy?”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Capital-Star.
Multiple Pennsylvania Democrats spoke prior to Biden, including Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.
He described Philadelphia as a “city of history makers,” pointing to big numbers in the city to help make him the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, Joanna McClinton as the first Black woman to be speaker of the Pennsylvania House and his belief that they will 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 massive margins with Black voters, there was a gender disparity in Pennsylvania. Biden won with Black women by 90% and won with Black men by 79%.
Recent national polling indicates Trump is continuing to make some gains with Black voters, particularly with men. The Harris campaign has responded by recently announcing 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 with Trump making gains with 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’ve been having a little bit of a debate,” Davis said. “I see a lot of brothers in the room, and I want to send a message that brothers are 10 toes down for Kamala Harris.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker touted the investments made by the Biden-Harris administration into Philadelphia since she was sworn in as mayor earlier this year, saying that over $900 million in federal funds have gone to help the city.
She also lauded Biden’s character, describing when he called her the night she won her race to become the city’s 100th mayor. Biden spoke to her and her son, Langston during the call.
“Philly, this is the kind of thing that occurs that you don’t see on camera that tells you about somebody’s integrity and character,” she said.
Parker also promoted Harris’ candidacy by bringing up her middle class upbringing and her economic agenda.
Brady, Chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, told reporters following Biden’s speech that the president called him on Saturday night and said that “I’m coming if you invite me” to the dinner. Brady said he’d invite him to come back again to campaign in Philadelphia.
“We’re peaking at the exact right moment,” Brady told reporters on Tuesday evening.
The Harris campaign needs big numbers in Philadelphia, the largest Democratic stronghold in the state, to carry Pennsylvania. Polling shows Harris and Trump in a close contest 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’s confident that Democrats will produce the numbers needed to help 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’s got to find another place to go.”
“He won’t get back into Four Seasons again, and Rudy won’t be dying his hair…They’re crazy. They’re crazy,” he added.
Harris is scheduled to be in Bucks County on Wednesday, while Trump will reportedly hold a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday.