President Joe Biden began a mass exodus Friday after his State of the Union address, heading to Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, to bring home some of the key points he made in Thursday's speech.
The president's speech in the heavily Democratic county almost immediately attacked former President Donald Trump. Biden criticized his record on reproductive rights issues, saying he was influenced by a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that deemed embryos to be children and prompted IVF providers to suspend their services. He cited his family.
“Do you know why it happened? I'll tell you why. One of the reasons is Donald Trump,” Biden said Friday, referring to the family's in vitro fertilization plans, which have been put on hold. “He came into office determined to overturn Roe v. Wade. In fact, he has repeatedly boasted about it.”
The president then shifted his focus to issues such as cooling inflation, lowering prescription drug prices and calling for a ban on assault weapons.
“Too many companies are jacking up prices, inflating profits, and charging more and more for less and less,” Biden said. “That's why we crack down on companies that engage in price gouging and deceptive pricing.”
Biden also contrasted his governing philosophy with that of Trump.
“My life has taught me to embrace the future. I say it with all my heart. Freedom, democracy, [and a] “We will build our future on the core values that have defined America: integrity, decency, fairness and equality,” Biden said.
“Donald Trump sees things differently,” Biden added. “He sees a story of grudge, revenge and retribution.”
The audience included people who have volunteered or worked for the Democratic Party, the Biden campaign, or similar organizations. The enthusiastic crowd occasionally broke into chants of “Four more years.”
Ahead of the president's speech, First Lady Jill Biden strongly reprimanded her husband's predecessor. “Donald Trump insults veterans and belittles those who died in wars, calling them 'losers' and 'the worst',” she said. What about him? ”
“We must approach this moment as if our rights are at stake, because they are at stake,” the first lady said. “It’s as if our democracy is at stake, and it is.”
Aside from the State of the Union, Friday's speech was Biden's first since his January speech centered on abortion rights, which was interrupted more than a dozen times by anti-war demonstrators criticizing Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war. attracted the largest audience.
The president's speech kicks off what the campaign is calling a “month of action,” during which Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to visit every battleground state.
According to his campaign, Biden plans to visit Georgia on Saturday, New Hampshire on Monday, Wisconsin on Wednesday and Michigan on Thursday. Meanwhile, Harris will visit Arizona on Friday and head to Nevada on Saturday to focus on mobilizing Latino voters.
Of those states, Biden flipped Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona blue in 2020.
The White House said the president's cabinet and senior administration officials have continued touring the country this month, making more than 20 visits to states including Texas, Ohio, Florida and New York.
The campaign said Friday that “Team Biden-Harris” is opening 100 offices in battleground states, hiring at least 350 new staffers and “intentionally recruiting Hispanic and African-Americans at scale.” In six weeks, the company announced it would launch a $30 million advertising acquisition. , AANPI outlets and radio,” according to the campaign. The campaign often uses the abbreviation “Team Biden-Harris” to refer to itself and related groups such as the Democratic National Committee.
The $30 million ad buy is in a similar range to certain super PAC advertising spending this campaign cycle.. The pro-Biden PAC Future Forward has about $20.8 million, the pro-Trump PAC MAGA Inc. has about $39.5 million, the pro-Ron DeSantis PAC Never Back Down has about $40.2 million, and the pro-Nikki Haley faction. spent approximately $40.2 million. PAC SFA Fund spent $64.4 million on him, according to AdImpact.
