What to Know
- Fresh off his defiant State of the Union address, President Joe Biden and his senior aides will barnstorm the country starting Friday to aggressively sell his vision for a second term to voters. He's also warning of the Republican alternative.
- The president will try to ride the post-speech momentum to Pennsylvania and Georgia for campaign events.
- Those are two critical swing states that he flipped in 2020 and is rallying to retain in his column this November.
A day after delivering an at times fiery State of the Union address in front of a divided U.S. Congress, President Joe Biden stopped in the Philadelphia suburbs to push his 2024 presidential campaign message.
The Democratic president spoke at a campaign event at Strath Haven Middle School in Delaware County on Friday afternoon.
"In my address, I spoke about how far we’ve come since we took office. I talked about how much is at stake. Folks: Our freedom’s really are on the ballot this November," Biden said on Friday.
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The president touted his first term accomplishments to a crowd of his supporters, saying his administration lowered inflation and slashed credit card late fees from $32 to $8.
“Our economy’s the envy of the world. 15 million new jobs in just three years, that’s a record in American history. Unemployment at a 50 year low. 800,000 new manufacturing jobs and counting," he said.
The president, first lady Dr. Jill Biden and their traveling party flew into Philadelphia International Airport in the afternoon before they headed to the Philadelphia suburbs.
Before arriving for the campaign stop, the president and first lady made a stop at a home in Swarthmore where they visited with the owners of 360 Market and Cafe.
The visit comes as Biden ramps up his 2024 reelection campaign in what appears to be a rematch with former President Donald Trump. Philadelphia and its suburbs could help decide which way Pennsylvania -- a swing state -- goes in November's general election.
Shaking off lackluster approval ratings and his own party's anxiety about his political and physical health, the 81-year-old delivered on Thursday one of the feistiest and most political presidential addresses to Congress in recent memory.
At Thursday night's State of the Union speech, Biden never mentioned Trump by name, but took several shots at the Republican presidential candidate.
He referenced "my predecessor" 13 times, not saying Trump's name once but making him a clear focus of his speech, shouted back at firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and sarcastically mocked Republican lawmakers.
During Friday's speech in Delaware County though, the president took a different approach by addressing him by name several times.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms and that’s not an exaggeration. Well, guess what: We will not let him. We will not let him," Biden said.
Republicans and his opponents view the president's first term differently, as expressed by Alabama Senator Katie Britt who delivered Thursday night's Republican response to the State of the Union.
"The American people are scraping by while President Biden proudly proclaims that Biden-omics is working. Goodness, y’all. Bless his heart. We know better," Britt said.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will both be on the campaign trail this weekend. They will be holding dueling rallies in Georgia, a state that Biden narrowly won in 2020.
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