President Joe Biden was in the Philadelphia area less than 24 hours following the State of the Union where he laid out his vision for the 2024 presidential election.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walked onto the stage at Strath Haven High School in Delaware County to the cheers of a crowd of raucous supporters on Friday.
It was Biden’s first campaign event since delivering a blistering State of the Union address that put former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party on their heels.
“If I spoke about how far we’ve come since we took office, I talked about how much is at stake,” Biden said at the beginning of his speech. “ Folks, our freedoms really are on the battle this November. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms. That’s not an exaggeration.”
Biden then went to attack Trump for rolling back reproductive rights just as he did on Thursday.
“He came to office determined to overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, he’s bragged about it repeatedly that he’s the reason it got overturned,” Biden told the crowd.
“He got his wish and states are passing bans, criminalizing doctors, forcing rape and incest victims to leave their state to get care. Now, MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump want to pass a national ban on the right to choose.”
Biden’s latest campaign event is at least his 20th trip to the Philadelphia area since taking office in 2021, and it only underscores the Keystone State’s importance in the 2024 presidential election.
Pennsylvania has received over $21 billion in federal funding from Biden’s major legislative accomplishments from his first term in office. This includes $13.1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $7.3 billion from the American Rescue Plan and $300 million in semiconductor investments from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Over 33,000 Pennsylvania workers and retirees have had their pensions saved thanks to the Butch Lewis provision in the American Rescue Plan and tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians have saved money due to lower prescription drug costs in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Delco has gone under many transitions over the last 10 or 12 years, but we literally, we get credit for providing the margin by which he won the last time in Pennsylvania,” State Sen. Tim Kearney (D-Delaware) said in an interview when asked about the importance of Biden’s visit.
Biden reminded the Delaware County voters of what’s at stake should Trump win a second term in office and he continued hammering away at his populist agenda that was on display during the State of the Union address.
“Trickle-down economics should be a dead thing. It’s never really functioned for American folks, but when you put money in the pockets of the middle class and the lower class, we all benefit from it,” Kearney said. “That’s really the populous message that he’s pushing that we really need to get out.”
Similar to the State of the Union address, Biden ended the campaign rally contrasting the vision he and Trump have for the future of the country.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace the future. I mean it sincerely. Freedom, democracy, a future based on the core values that defined America,” Biden said. “Donald Trump sees the story differently. He sees the story of resentment, revenge, and retribution.”
