KENOSHA, Wis. (NewsNation Now) — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday met with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man whose shooting by police in Wisconsin in August sparked protests around the United States.
The private meeting, which took place in a building at the Milwaukee airport, came at the start of a trip by Biden to the state. Biden and his wife Jill met with four members of Blake’s family, including his father, Jacob Blake, Sr., the Biden campaign said.
Biden is also holding a community meeting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a white police officer shot Blake in the back on Aug. 23, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Trump visited Kenosha two days ago but did not meet with Blake’s family. Instead he visited a furniture store that was destroyed in the upheaval following the shooting, and suggested that Democrats like Biden condoned the violence that has at times disrupted largely peaceful demonstrations, even as Biden has condemned it.
Biden, along with his running mate, Kamala Harris, have praised the energy of the Black Lives Matter movement, but have not embraced its goals of de-funding or even eliminating local police departments.
On Thursday, Trump will be making a visit to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He will be speaking at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport at 7 p.m. ET. No further details have been announced.
Trump won Pennsylvania by 45,000 votes in 2016.
Trump’s campaign also announced that the president will speak at a Winston-Salem airport in North Carolina Tuesday.