President Biden traveled to two key swing states on Labor Day to tout Democratic achievements and lash out at Republicans with the midterm elections just two months away.
Biden first made a stop in Wisconsin to speak at Milwaukee Laborfest, followed by a stop in Pittsburgh where he delivered a speech to United Steelworkers of America Local 2227.
While Biden used both events to demonstrate his support for unions, he also used the trips as campaign stops to show what his administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress have accomplished while in office.
The “…US bailout also created and saved millions of jobs. Why? Because here in the state of Pennsylvania, and almost every state, didn’t have enough money to keep the teachers on the payroll, to keep the firefighters on the job, to keep the police on the job, to keep people, nurses and doctors working,” Biden said in Pennsylvania.
“So what did we do? In fact, we gave them money to do it. And this governor, your governor, spent it well.
He also touted the bipartisan infrastructure law; certain aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act, including an aspect of the law that allows Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices; and legislation stimulating the domestic semiconductor industry amid a critical shortage of computer chips.
Biden took the opportunity to go on the offensive against Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the most vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in November, lambasting him for comments that Medicare and the social security should be approved annually.
While in Pennsylvania, the president did not invoke the name of Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, but instead took aim at former President Trump more prominently in his remarks.
“We all love the country. But you can’t love the country and say how much you love it when you only accept one of the two election results. Either you won or you were cheated. It doesn’t work that way,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s baseless claims that the last election was stolen from him.
And borrowing the language he used during his prime-time speech last Thursday, he also took aim at “MAGA Republicans.”
“Not all Republicans are MAGA Republicans. Not all Republicans embrace this extreme ideology. I know this because I have been able to work with mainstream Republicans for my entire career. But extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to back down, full of anger, violence, hatred and division,” Biden said in Wisconsin.
While Democratic Senate challenger Mandela Barnes, who faces Johnson in November, was not president during Biden’s speech, Biden gave a shout out to him during his remarks in Wisconsin.
Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman attended the president’s event in the state. Biden joked during his speech, “if I have to be in a foxhole. I want John Fetterman with me.
Both Fetterman and Barnes are gearing up for close races in critical battleground states that will help determine whether Democrats can retain control of the Senate last November.
Nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report calls Johnson’s seat a “draw” as it recently upgraded Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat from a “draw” to a “skinny Democrat.”