President Joe Biden visited southeastern Pennsylvania three times in the two weeks as he ramped up his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.
Biden, a former Benjamin Franklin Professor of Presidential Practice, started 2024 with several events in and around the Philadelphia area. He held a campaign event, visited local small businesses, and volunteered at a food bank across the spam of 10 days.
On Jan. 5, Biden delivered his first campaign speech of 2024 at Montgomery County Community College, near Valley Forge, Pa. In recent years, Democrats have increased their majority in Montgomery County — Biden’s margin of victory was double of former President Barack Obama’s in 2012 in Montgomery County.
He began his speech by evoking imagery of George Washington’s march to Valley Forge in 1777.
“His mission was clear: liberty, not conquest. Freedom. Not domination. National independence. Not individual glory,” Biden said. “America made a vow: Never again would we bow down to a king."
Biden proceeded by criticizing former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
“Trump is running as the denier-in-chief,” Biden said.
One week later, Biden returned to Pennsylvania, where he visited several small businesses in Allentown, Pa. on Jan. 12.
Biden was greeted by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who gave him a tour of local small businesses. Biden talked with business owners and supported their shops by delivering coffee and pastries to the local fire station.
“I’ve always believed if the middle class does well, everybody does well, the wealthy do very well, and the poor have a ladder up,” Biden said.
His arrival at the Allentown Fire Training Academy was met with a pro-Palestine demonstration. Other hecklers shouted disapproving statements while he visited a local bicycle shop.
Shortly after his visit to Allentown, Biden returned to Pennsylvania on Jan. 15 to volunteer at Philabundance, a nonprofit food bank — marking the third consecutive year he has volunteered with the organization on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Air Force One, carrying President Joe Biden, on approach to land in Philadelphia on Jan. 18.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), former Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.), and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis greeted Biden at the Philadelphia International Airport.
Biden spoke to the volunteers about Martin Luther King Jr. and his own decision to become a public defender. Parker, a 2016 Fels Institute of Government graduate, also joined Biden in packaging meals.
Biden was met with a group of pro-Palestine protesters who opposed United States military aid to Israel as he departed the warehouse.
Biden’s visits to Pennsylvania reflect the state’s increased importance as a battleground state in the 2024 election. He previously visited Philadelphia on July 20, 2023 to promote his economic agenda at a campaign rally in the Navy Yard.
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