The US President has started the election campaign.
(Photo: dpa)
Washington US President Joe Biden started his re-election campaign in the traditionally contested state of Pennsylvania on Saturday. “When I ran for president, I told you I would have your back, and I did,” the 80-year-old told an audience of around 2,000 union members in the capital, Philadelphia. “But you also had my back.” The Republicans “are after your jobs,” the Democrat warned his audience of the opposition.
The President’s appearances at trade union events show how important he considers employee representatives to be for the second term he is striving for. Biden is being hailed by union leaders as the most pro-union president in history. He reversed the weakening of labor protections introduced by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
Pennsylvania is one of the so-called “swing states” in which there is no clear majority for Republicans or Democrats. The steel and coal industries play a major role here, the population is 80 percent white and household incomes are below the national average. Biden won a narrow victory in Pennsylvania in the last presidential election.
In the USA, the President, a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives will be re-elected at the beginning of November 2024. In the months before, internal party primary elections are held, in which the candidates for the actual vote are selected. While Biden has so far been unrivaled on the Democrat side, a decision is still pending among the Republicans. According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos polls, Trump is clearly ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. All other candidates are clearly defeated.
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