Biden targets battleground Florida in virtual campaign
Democratic candidate steps up online efforts to defeat Trump
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden is back on the campaign trail, targeting the critical battleground state of Florida — but without actually leaving home.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is staying in his Delaware house amid efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus, which has shut down most aspects of American life, including the presidential campaign. But he held a virtual roundtable on Thursday with more than a dozen African American leaders in Jacksonville, including Rep. Al Lawson.
“It’s great to be in Jacksonville today,” Biden said, grinning. “I’m anxious to get down in person to campaign.”
Later, Biden was holding an online rally with voters in Tampa featuring many of the fixtures of an in-person appearance.
His virtual stops marked one of the first times Biden has tried to emulate a traditional campaign swing through a key state since locking up the Democratic primary nearly a month ago. In previous weeks, he used a makeshift studio in a rec room in his basement to hold online fundraisers and discussions with top Democrats, but he faces mounting pressures and concerns from Democrats wary about President
Donald Trump’s dominant presence on social media and across traditional news outlets.
“I’m going to need you if we win in November,” Biden told roundtable participants. He promised to reinvigorate the economy in a way that could reduce economic inequality, adding, “I’m going to need you to rebuild the backbone of this country but bring along everyone this time.”
Biden’s evolving online campaign will continue Friday with an exclusive appearance on NowThis, a video-heavy news outlet that boasts a monthly audience that includes 60% of Americans in their 20s and distributes content across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok. Biden, according to NowThis, will preview his central economic pitch for the general election.
The back-to-back virtual campaign days reflect the Biden campaign’s effort both to approximate traditional moves, such as town halls that the former vice president would have held across a dozen battleground states during a normal fall campaign, with a new approach such as the NowThis platform, which can connect the 77-year-old candidate to a swath of younger voters whom he’s largely failed to excite so far.
The Florida offensive, meanwhile, also comes as Trump’s campaign has stepped up its efforts to portray the former vice president as soft on China. It released an online video Thursday that included clips of Biden previously describing that country as “not bad folks” and saying economic growth there was in the U.S. interest.