President Joe Biden delivers remarks on clean energy at Tioga Marine Terminal, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden campaign launches Black voter outreach campaign in Pa.
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Ben Wasserstein/WITF
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on clean energy at Tioga Marine Terminal, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Pennsylvania is a key battleground state, with both presidential campaigns gearing up to fight for every vote.
President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is launching a new effort to attract Black voters.
In the April 23 primary, Biden won around 93% of the vote despite being the only candidate still in the running.
But, the results showed a softening of support in rural areas of the state.
In an interview shortly after the primary, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the Democrats need to focus on attracting voters in those counties.
“We have 48 rural counties in Pennsylvania out of 67,” he said. “And we’ve got to have conversations with folks in those rural areas about what we’re working on and also what we want to continue to deliver on.”
So far, the Biden campaign has opened up 24 campaign offices across the state, including in York and Lancaster. The campaign for former Republican President Donald Trump plans to open an office in Philadelphia Tuesday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Four years ago, approximately 92% of Black voters voted for Biden, according to the New York Times.
While York and Lancaster have smaller Black populations compared to the White population, the margins of victory in both the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections were under 90,000, so both campaigns are focusing on attracting every voter they can.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is teaming up with state House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, to chair Black Pennsylvanians for Biden-Harris. He praised the achievements of the Biden administration such as the latest unemployment numbers.
“We currently have the lowest Black unemployment rate on record,” he said. “Black wealth is up 60 percent since the pandemic and we’ve had the narrowest racial wealth gap in 20 years.”
The Biden campaign will reach out to voters through traditional methods, such as door-knocking, and also host events like barbecues and block parties.
Davis said this is “to really meet voters in their communities so we can talk about not only what President Biden has done in his term in office, but what’s on the line in this election.”
“We’re still a couple months away from November, but I think as we get closer we’re going to continue to see folks getting more and more engaged into this race,” he added.
Last week, Donald Trump was found guilty by a New York jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 election.
His campaign and the Republican National Committee launched an outreach campaign called “Trump Force 47.”
It doesn’t focus on any one group specifically and his campaign has already shut down several minority outreach centers.
There are nearly 400,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in Pennsylvania.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
