Courting voters in Western states critical to his re-election bid, President Biden on Wednesday completed a two-day tour of Nevada and Arizona focusing on Latinos, housing affordability, taxes and his predecessor and rival in 2024, former President Trump.
At a series of official events and political meetings at the White House, Biden criticized Trump for cutting taxes on the wealthy, increasing the federal deficit and failing to deliver on plans that could help the nation.
“Remember how my predecessor kept talking about 'Infrastructure Week' for four years? Well, he didn't build anything,” Biden told his supporters at a community center in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “I proposed and signed the largest investment in our nation's infrastructure in generations, and now we are going to have a 'Decade of Infrastructure': so far, 47,000 new projects modernizing the countries' roads, bridges, ports, airports and public transportation. Americans. ..$3.4 billion in projects right here in Nevada.”
Winning Arizona and Nevada in November — two states Biden narrowly won in 2020 — is vital to the Democrat's re-election effort. But polling averages in both states show the incumbent trailing Trump by more than five points in each, according to Real Clear Politics.
These states also feature prominently on some of the most critical issues in this year's elections, including border security, abortion rights, voter denialism, and concerns about weakening support for the Democratic nomination among Latino voters. , a fundamental part of the coalition Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris must hold on to win re-election.
Biden highlighted policy successes that he said have boosted the economies of both states, and on Wednesday announced that Intel would receive up to $8.5 billion in grants and $11 billion in loans to boost semiconductor chip manufacturing in Chandler, Arizona. , and in other states. across the country, an investment that is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs.
“There is nothing America can't do if we put our mind to it,” Biden told cheering supporters at a construction site in Chandler. “It will put us on track to manufacture 20% of the world's next-generation chips by the end of the decade. And right here in the United States.”
After Biden's State of the Union address earlier this month, Harris immediately traveled to Phoenix and Las Vegas to promote her message, a reflection of Democrats' need to strengthen their relationship with Latinos that Democratic leaders in these states recognize.
“We have not been talking to people about the issues that President Biden has been delivering on and that is what we are determined to do,” Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano told reporters after Biden spoke at a campaign event in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Among the Biden administration's achievements that should be highlighted are job creation, capping insulin prices and protecting social rights, Bejarano said. He added that while Trump may be entertaining, Arizona “will be a battle” in November and Democrats need to highlight what will happen if he is elected to another term.
“People likes it [to] laughing at their rallies, you know, it's like they went to a circus. “They hear him joke about very, very serious things,” he said. “We just have to be very, very focused and, you know, make sure that Latinos understand exactly who Donald Trump is and the danger that he represents to us.”
Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez identified Western battlefields as one of three swaths of the country on which the president's re-election bid will depend, in a campaign memo released Tuesday.
The campaign will have more than 40 staff members on the ground in the two states by the end of March, he wrote.
“We are investing early to reach these voters and highlight the work of the Biden-Harris administration to reduce costs, create good-paying jobs and keep their families safe, rather than treating them as grassroots voters who turn out at the last minute.” Chávez Rodríguez wrote.
On Tuesday, the Biden campaign announced a new ad focused on Latino voters, delivered in English, Spanglish and Spanish, as well as the launch of Latinos. scam Biden-Harris, an effort to mobilize Latino voters in the 2024 elections.
“You are the reason I largely beat Donald Trump,” Biden told supporters Tuesday night at El Portal, a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, who chanted, “Long live Biden.” “I need you so much”.
Republicans dismissed the effort as too little, too late.
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“Democrats have taken the Hispanic community for granted for too long, and no amount of money spent by the Biden campaign will change the fact that Biden and Harris have been a disaster for our community, from the failing economy to the crisis.” border and the uncontrollable crisis. increase in crime in our neighborhoods,” Jaime Florez, director of communications and Hispanic outreach for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement.
“Republicans will continue to welcome with open arms thousands of Hispanics who are coming to our party, disappointed with Democrats and their policies, and will be fundamental to Republican victories across the country in 2024.”
Biden's campaign also focused on union jobs created since the pandemic destroyed employment, a point particularly highlighted in Nevada.
The state's tourism industry was decimated by the 2020 COVID-19 closures and has not fully recovered. Labor has historically been a huge booster for Democrats in the state, and more than one in 10 workers were members of a union in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. His supporters repeatedly called on Biden “the most unionist president in history.”
Among the policy proposals that Biden and his campaign highlighted during the trip were a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, the construction and renovation of more than 2 million homes, the expansion of the child tax credit and the increasing taxes on the rich.
Biden also twice touted a high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas to Southern California, funded with billions of federal dollars.
“Guess what?” she told his supporters at the campaign event in Reno. “She's coming.”
