PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden is returning to his roots to try to save his campaign, swinging through Pennsylvania to a church in Philadelphia on Sunday as he seeks to push back on concerns from his own party that he is not up for running for reelection.
The Democratic president was greeted by a friendly, supportive congregation here — a sign of his campaign’s intent to demonstrate that the push to have him step aside is one driven by party elite and the media while rank-and-file voters remain supportive of Biden’s reelection bid. He touted his first-term accomplishments that have boosted Black families in a roughly eight-minute address, including a record-low Black unemployment rate and his student debt relief programs.
“I know I look like I’m 40 years old,” Biden said, prompting laughter and applause from the predominantly Black congregation. “I’ve been doing this for a long time.” With nearly every speech of his coming under scrutiny since his debate performance, Biden spoke initially off his notes but delivered the end of his remarks without them. His voice was characteristically soft, but he spoke forcefully — particularly as he rattled off policy accomplishments.
The Sunday church visit was Biden’s first public event since his Friday ABC News interview where he defiantly vowed to stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance that spurred calls from some corners of his party that he opt out of seeking another four years in favor of a candidate who might be more likely to beat former President Donald Trump.
And it is no coincidence his visit was to Pennsylvania. It is a state that Biden has a deep, personal connection to — his roots in Scranton and frequent references to the state led him to be dubbed “Pennsylvania’s third senator” by the campaign in 2008. He has visited the state frequently during his presidency, including eight trips this year, and he has virtually no path to a second term without it.
The president, notably, brought prominent Keystone State Democrats to vouch for him. He was greeted at the Philadelphia airport by several members of the state delegation, including Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Reps. Brendan Boyle and Madeleine Dean. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Casey joined him at a church in the predominantly Black Mt. Airy neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia.
Biden is also set to rally supporters and union members in Harrisburg later on Sunday. He had previously been set to speak at the National Education Association annual conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, but canceled the appearance after the organization’s staff announced a strike on Friday.
Greeted with cheers as a church choir sang “I Need You To Survive,” Biden found support amid ongoing concerns about his age. He was seated next to 91-year-old Bishop Ernest Morris, the church’s founder.
“Since you are only an octogenarian sitting next to a nonagenarian, don’t let anyone talk about your age,” Bishop J. Louis Felton, who led the service, said from the pulpit.
“We did not come to beat up on you, to put you down, to criticize you, we came to love you,” Felton later added — leading the crowd in a chant of, “We love you, President Biden.” He also defended Biden’s debate performance, contrasting the president’s occasional stammering with Trump’s “fluent lies.”
“He’s the man we need in these terrible times,” Felton said during a sermon that functioned as a show of support for Biden.
The visits Sunday are unlikely to quell Democratic fears that have persisted over the weekend and are likely to be a major conversation when Congress returns to Washington this week. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is convening with leading House Democrats Sunday afternoon, where they are expected to discuss concerns about Biden’s nomination. A fifth House Democrat, Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, said Saturday that Biden should withdraw from the presidential race.
Other Democrats continued to pile onto the criticism Sunday and over the weekend, saying the ABC interview did not resolve their concerns and suggested that Biden needs to do more unscripted events with voters to restore confidence after the debate, or consider dropping out if he is not the candidate best equipped to beat Trump.
Biden has generally trailed Trump in polling in key states — including Pennsylvania — for much of the year. Polling since the debate has been mixed, with the Democratic incumbent seeing a slight improvement in several states in a Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey released Saturday, but was still several points behind Trump in a majority of battleground states.
Following the president’s visit, several church congregants brought up signs of his aging without prompting — but many told POLITICO it didn’t make them concerned about voting for Biden, who some didn’t know was coming to services until Sunday morning.
Stanley Stocker, a 76-year-old at the church, admitted that his heart “sunk” when he watched the debate, but said he was fully committed to encouraging his neighbors and fellow congregants to vote for the president.
“The issue is not President Biden’s inability at times to be able to speak when he wants to speak,” Stocker said. “Another president is a convicted criminal.”
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