WARREN, Michigan (AP) – Joe Biden traveled to suburban Detroit Wednesday to directly appeal to blue-collar personnel who may have voted Republican 4 years ago and now, in an attempt to rebuild the notorious “blue wall. “Once mythical Democrat who collapsed and helped catapult Donald Trump into the White House.
The former vice president’s first crusade of the coronavirus era beyond his home in Delaware was in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, which shows just how bad Biden’s electoral outlook is and is related to the reconquest of those once democratic states. reliable.
Biden vowed to rewrite tax codes to praise American corporations that invest in domestic production while imposing consequences on those that send jobs to other countries. He spoke at a United Auto Workers regional in Warren, flanked by a variety of American-made cars, adding Fords, Jeeps and Chevrolets.
“I’m not going to punish American companies, but there’s a better way,” Biden said. “Do it in Michigan. Do in America,Invest in communities and staff in positions like Warren. “
He noted that a local General Motors transmission plant closed last year despite Trump’s promises to Michigan jobs, adding, “I bet the staff here were not at all comforted by Trump’s empty promises. “
“Under Donald Trump, Michigan lost auto jobs before COVID hit,” Biden said. “And what about offshoring? Has Trump managed to prevent American jobs from being sent abroad? You already know the answer. Of course not. “
Last week, Biden traveled to Wisconsin and was temporarily followed by his co-worker Kamala Harris, who organized Labor Day events there. Biden traveled to Pennsylvania during the holidays and will return on Friday.
Trump retaliated with his people in Michigan on Thursday and will also be himself in Pennsylvania the next day.
While Biden’s crusade says he sees multiple tactics to get the 270 electoral college votes he wants to win in November, the fastest path is through Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
“If Biden wins one of them, but especially two, with some of the other states at stake, it’s practically for Trump to win the Electoral College,” said veteran Democratic strata player Joe Trippi.
Biden’s aides, Trump’s focus on the economy and coronavirus control, will resonate with the nation’s most sensitive voters, but especially in states like Michigan, which has been one of the hardest hit nationally by the pandemic.
The state unemployment rate rose to 24% in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; since then it has recovered to 8. 7%, but Michigan has nearly 414,500 fewer jobs than at Trump’s inauguration.
In making the president’s plans for Michigan, Trump’s crusade sought to paint Biden as respectful of China. Trump’s allies have long attributed their bellicose stance toward Beijing in 2016 to help him succeed in the commercial Midwest, which has suffered loss of overseas duties that Trump blamed. about Obama-era industrial policies.
Trump’s aides have repeated claims about Biden’s ties to China, but this proved problematic in Trump’s kind words to the country earlier this year at the start of the pandemic. They also ignored the Obama-Biden administration’s efforts to salvage. to the Michigan-based nation. American auto industry after the 2008 recession.
“Joe Biden travels to the state of Michigan to pose as a friend and best friend of the business heart,” said Steve Cortes, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, “but he has shown time and again that he is a globalist and corporatist that, As a senator from Delaware, he represented corporate interests on AmericanArray
Biden, on the other hand, pointed to Obama’s efforts at the White House to revive the auto industry 12 years ago and said Wednesday that Trump had “failed our economy and our country. “He also pledged to create a “Made in America” office within the White House Office of Management and Budget for government projects to use nationally produced resources.
Trump supporters argue that the president has kept his promises to create jobs and has only been temporarily turned away because of the pandemic, but hiring at Midwestern plants, adding Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, began to decline and then to decline. decrease in the summer of 2019.
Trump won Michigan by the narrowest margin of any state in 2016, less than 11,000 votes, and Democrats made massive progress in half, winning all primary state offices and a handful of seats in Congress.
Indeed, Democrats see reasons for optimism in the party’s mid-term 2018 achievements in the 3 states, which were partly driven by an exodus of republican suburban women, and focus more on minority participation, with Harris, the first African-American woman on a primary ballot, strongly addressed to the black electorate in key states , will help Biden make up for part of the flat Clinton lost in 2016.
“The crusade has taken it more seriously from the start than national Democrats did four years ago,” said Amy Chapman, who worked as Barack Obama’s state manager in Michigan in 2008. Were. Only in the end, and the classified ads show what Biden would do, while showing a contrast with Trump.
Biden’s crusade goes far beyond Trump’s crusade to air in all three states. Since Biden became the alleged Democratic nominee in early April, his crusade has spent about $59. 8 million on nearly $26. 8 million of Trump’s crusade in all states, according to corporate advertising tracking Kantar/CMAG. The difference is highest in Michigan, where Biden’s crusade spent $17. 2 million compared to $6. 7 million on Trump.
However, for long-term spending, the two are tied, with Biden setting aside $ 33. 5 million on the airwaves and Trump setting aside $ 32. 7 million in all 3 states.
Trump and Biden will be in Pennsylvania on Friday at a September 11 memorial in Shanksville, the one for the crash of United Flight 93 in 2001.
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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press editors David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; Jonathan Lemire in New York; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa; and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.