Biden’s Philadelphia rally with union members will be the first major event of the 2024 campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to promote his pro-labour record Saturday at his first major political rally since his re-election campaign was formalized, and join forces with union members to show his economic agenda is strengthening the middle class.

His campaign said Biden, who will appear at the Philadelphia Convention Center, “will lay out the core principles of his economic message.” The president also wants to talk about how a sweeping climate, tax and health care package he signed into law last year has cut prescription drug costs and lowered insurance premiums. This is part of his government’s focus on his achievements during his first two years in office – the key argument for a second term.

Several of the country’s most powerful unions — including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — officially endorsed Biden’s campaign on Friday. The unions’ unique unanimous approval and the presence of hundreds of workers in the background are part of a carefully choreographed attempt to show the workers’ support behind what Biden himself calls the most pro-union president in history.

“I’m saying that my philosophy of building from the middle out and bottom up is working,” Biden told reporters before a fundraiser in Connecticut Friday night.

The Philadelphia event also comes amid some encouraging economic news for Biden, as inflation has cooled over the past month and a steady decline in consumer prices continues, largely due to lower gasoline prices, a slower rise in grocery costs than in previous months, and cheaper furniture and fares is due and devices.

The city and Pennsylvania have long been the focus of Biden’s political endeavors. Philadelphia was the location of his campaign headquarters in 2020 and the state was one of the few states that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 but turned back to the Democrats four years later.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said some union members have supported Trump in the past because “there’s a lot of resentment and a lot of unhappiness in this country.” And Trump was a master at exploiting fears and grievances.”

She said one reason the AFT and other top unions supported Biden nearly 18 months before Election Day 2024 was to promote Biden’s economic record on Republican-backed cultural issues.

Biden will be “very, very comfortable being in Philadelphia. He’ll be among friends,” added Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He pushed for coordinated top-level union support for Biden’s re-election campaign early in the cycle.

So far, Biden’s main campaign activity has been fundraising. He raised money at a private home in Greenwich, Connecticut on Friday and will soon be conducting fundraisers in California, Maryland, Illinois and New York.