Launching coalition, Biden campaign appeals to Pa. women
Joe Biden’s Democratic presidential campaign launched an organizing coalition for Pennsylvania women Monday.
The coalition — Pennsylvania Women for Biden — kicked off with a virtual event featuring the former vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, who insisted that women organize and win elections.
Ms. Biden, a lifelong educator, said her upbringing in Pennsylvania was one where “if you worked hard, you could have a career that made you proud,” and one where a woman could leverage a college degree into a dream career as a teacher.
But now, that American dream is “unrealized for so many,” Ms. Biden said, which has shown itself in the disparities in health and economic devastation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In so many ways, this moment has reminded us of the simple but profound truth: that the American dream means nothing if it’s not for all Americans,” Ms. Biden said. “Joe believes that. He has the steady leadership to get us through this chaos.”
“[Joe] has the character it takes to get things done,” she added, “and he has the vision to reimagine our future, to build back better — not a retread of our past, but something new and beautiful that we can build together.”
Ms. Biden said if her husband is elected this November with the help of Pennsylvanians, Americans might wake up in 2021, read newspaper headlines that indicate Congress is “actually working together to pass universal preschool,” hear from a family member who has a new job in “cuttingedge green technology” after graduating from college without student loan debt, and find out
that having an affordable public health insurance option was the reason why a neighbor was able to diagnose breast cancer early.
“When you go to bed that night, you don’t worry about a crashing economy or corruption in government,” Ms. Biden said. “In fact, you don’t think about government at all, because you know that a team of talented, thoughtful, honest public servants are in the White House.”
Other women on the virtual session blasted President Donald Trump for his response to COVID-19, his approach to education, and his administration’s treatment of immigrants and people of color.
Jennifer Mazzocco, a member of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said COVID-19 revealed the importance of public education and how it will be crucial to have a president who values fully funded public schools when schools start to reopen in the fall.
Sophia Shapiro, a University of Pittsburgh student who is organizing for Mr. Biden on campus, said 2020 will be different from past elections when students didn’t show up to vote. This time, students are “fired up” and eager to vote the incumbent president out of office, she said.
“Whether it be reaching out to people on campus or having necessary, uncomfortable conversations with family members, our generations are saying, ‘Enough,’” Ms. Shapiro said. “Enough rolling back progress that generations before us have worked so hard to achieve.”
Ms. Shapiro said Mr. Biden is on the right side of issues important to the middle class, including climate change, student debt, gun violence, racial justice, immigration and reproductive rights.
The Trump campaign, which has its own coalition for women, marked the Biden campaign’s announcement with statistics showing women’s unemployment reaching its lowest rate in more than half a century at a point during the president’s first term.
“Pennsylvanians know that President Trump’s leadership built an economy that delivered historic results for all Americans of all backgrounds and he will do it again,” Trump Victory spokeswoman Melissa Reed said in a statement. “Meanwhile, hidin’ Joe Biden is afraid to emerge from his basement because he spent over 40 years in government pushing policies that have hurt Pennsylvania women and their families.”