Pence, Biden make pitches in Pa.
The fight for Pennsylvania roared back with new intensity Thursday as Vice President Mike Pence and former Vice President Joe Biden made simultaneous visits to the state, each trying to show who can best handle the crises wracking the country and defining the 2020 election.
In separate stops throughout the day, they clashed over who could revive the economy, President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and the searing debates over racism and policing playing out in streets across the country.
The day included Mr. Biden speaking to a group of ironworkers while Mr. Pence met with business leaders, and Mr. Biden attacking Mr. Trump for defending the Confederate flag, while Mr. Pence accused the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and “the radical left” of “smearing” police.
At a factory just outside his birthplace of Scranton, Mr. Biden laid out his $700 billion plan for economic recovery in a speech that reached out to the working-class voters vital to winning Pennsylvania and other swing states. And he accused Mr. Trump of stoking racial divisions.
“Everyone will be cut in on the deal this time as we rebuild the middle class, this time bringing everyone along, everybody,” Mr. Biden said. Mr. Trump, he said, is “exactly the wrong person to lead at this moment. He’ll not bring this country together. He’s determined to drive us apart to keep his base in place. He’ll not be president for all the American people.”
Hours later, Mr. Pence addressed a crowd of about 300 in Northeast Philadelphia, where supporters at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, the city’s police union, wore few face masks but many “Back the Blue” and “Trump 2020” shirts.
In one of the rare Republican-friendly areas in a heavily Democratic city, small but heated groups of protesters exchanged words outside.
“On behalf of President Trump,” Mr. Pence said, “I’ll make you a promise: We will always have your back.” Echoing Mr. Trump’s “law and order” message, he called police “the best of us.”
Earlier in Chester County, Mr. Pence had touted a “great American comeback” and praised Mr. Trump’s handling of the pandemic — despite millions of people still unemployed and daily coronavirus cases reaching new records. Meeting with business leaders at the Rajant Corp. in Malvern, Mr. Pence said the United States is “coming back because of the solid foundation that was put in place” by Mr. Trump.
The twin visits created one of the first days of split-screen campaigning anywhere since the coronavirus curtailed public events. Pennsylvania’s narrow 2016 margin — when Mr. Trump won by less than 1 percentage point — loomed as a backdrop, with both sides looking for anything that could make the difference in a state that could decide the presidential race.
At McGregor Industries in Dunmore, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden visited a region that delivered a shocking blow to Democrats. The area helped deliver Pennsylvania to Mr. Trump in a political shift that mirrored postindustrial regions across the upper Midwest, many hit hard by economic change and won over by Mr. Trump’s promise of renewal.
But Mr. Biden said Mr. Trump was “singularly focused” on the stock market, and he promised to be a true champion of the working class as he unveiled a recovery plan aimed at boosting investments in American workers, businesses and infrastructure. Mr. Biden sharply contrasted his approach with Mr. Trump’s, frequently mentioning his ties to Scranton.
“You see, growing up rich and looking down on people is a bit different than how I grew up here,” Mr. Biden said. While Mr. Trump has touted a nostalgic vision of values and jobs, Mr. Biden said his emphasis on clean energy, technology, and research and development is “focused on building an economy for the future, not for the past.”
In a clear sign of where his policy pitch is aimed, top Biden surrogates will follow his Pennsylvania speech with virtual events Friday touting the plan in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, similarly situated swing states that could also play a pivotal role in the election.
Mr. Pence began his visit in an area that delivered one of Mr. Trump’s largest 2016 vote hauls, attending a campaign fundraiser at a sprawling Lancaster County farm for an event that brought in more than $1 million. He then touted the president’s economic record, and the country’s future, while meeting with business leaders in Chester County, one of the many affluent suburbs that once supported the GOP but have broken sharply from Mr. Trump.