(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden is on the campaign trail in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., on a tour to fire up Democratic voters just ten weeks before the midterm elections which will determine control of Congress and the fate of Biden’s agenda.
Wilkes-Barre is in the heart of a county that has flipped Republican — and toward Donald Trump — in the past two Presidential elections.
Voting in Wilkes-Barre since 2008 has been:
- 2020: (R) Donald Trump 56.7% – (D) Joe Biden 42.3%
- 2016: (R) Donald Trump 57.9% – (D) Hillary Clinton 38.6%
- 2012: (D) Barrack Obama 51.7 – (R) Mitt Romney 46.8%
- 2008: (D) Barrack Obama 54.0% – (R) John McCain 45.0%
On the heels of Biden’s visit, Trump is expected to visit Wilkes-Barre on Saturday.
Tuesday marks the first of three planned stops in Pennsylvania for Biden. Biden will visit Philadelphia on Thursday to deliver a speech billed the “soul of the nation,” in the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence.
The Pennsylvania tour and “soul of the nation” speech comes as Biden has been trying to paint Trump supporters as a danger to democracy.
“The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security they’re a threat to our very democracy,” Biden said last week.
All of this is in the backdrop of midterm races and as rhetoric is reaching a boiling point. Candidates and nominees like J.D. Vance in Ohio, Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, and Kari Lake in Arizona, have ratcheted up attacks on the left.
Democrats are facing a slew of Trump-backed candidates in tight races around the country where Republicans are attempting to capitalize on issues of inflation, immigration and crime.
Republicans, who believe they will take back the House in November, have already started making plans to impeach Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to The Hill.