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Biden’s broader remarks focused on his administration’s work to end the pandemic and turn the economy around, spending trillions of dollars in infrastructure and social programs like the child tax credit, reduce drug prices and raise taxes for the rich to pay for it.
But his focus on Trump in the Virginia off-year race has offered a glimpse of how he and the Main Democrats plan to address the shadow Trump has cast on Republicans. In Virginia, Trump has endorsed Youngkin three times, and Democrats are crossing their fingers that Biden’s appearance would prompt Trump to host an event for the GOP candidate.
“As Democrats, we have to show that we understand, that we deliver for them and that we keep our promises,” he continued. “We just have to keep arguing, just as the Republican Party today offers nothing but fears, lies and broken promises.”
The rally, in front of a mostly maskless crowd of nearly 3,000 in Arlington, comes just over 100 days before the Virginia election, which will pit McAuliffe in his offer to return Youngkin, a first-time candidate. and former leader of the Carlyle Group.
Biden’s speech opened with a focus on the pandemic and the increase in coronavirus cases across the country. “What we have now is an unvaccinated pandemic,” he said, saying “many of our conservative friends” had “seen the Lord” by embracing vaccinations. He cited Alabama GOP Governor Kay Ivey’s frustration with “unvaccinated people” in his state.
The election for governor in the Commonwealth has almost always worked against the ruling party. In the past 40 years, only one candidate has won the governorship while his party controlled the White House: McAuliffe, who won a narrow victory in 2013.
“This election year out, the country is watching,” Biden said.
Biden and his aides are eager to use the race to show that the president will be determined to build the party, in the hopes of avoiding ballot erasures. The rally came on the heels of the Democratic National Committee’s announcement that it would spend at least $ 5 million in Virginia ahead of the election, which the party called “the biggest investment in the Commonwealth in history. “.
Public polls in the race have been sparse, but they should be closer than Biden’s 10-point victory over Trump – and incumbent Gov. Ralph Northam’s sweeping victory in 2017 – with McAuliffe as a slight favorite.
And publicly, McAuliffe and his team have kept this race neck and neck. “I need your help,” he told the crowd. “I need you to work day and night. Sleep is well overrated.
McAuliffe and other Virginia Democrats have also sought to link Youngkin to Trump.
“Why are Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump so close? McAuliffe said at the rally.
Youngkin’s camp insists McAuliffe is the one with ties to Trump. A truck with a digital billboard showing a campaign ad pointing out that Trump donated to McAuliffe’s previous campaign circled the rally location.
“It is utterly dishonest of Terry McAuliffe to use President Trump’s endorsement to smear Glenn Youngkin, when McAuliffe is in fact friends with Trump and took thousands of dollars from Trump to fund his campaign,” he said. Youngkin spokesman Matt Wolking said, also citing the Clintons.
McAuliffe’s post also focused heavily on the economy during his tenure in Richmond. He too praised the coronavirus recovery program. “The US bailout has breathed new life into our economy,” McAuliffe said.
The rally also comes a day after McAuliffe released his first television commercial for the general election. AdImpact, an ad tracking company, has tracked at least $ 525,000 in McAuliffe’s TV ad spend that started Thursday and will continue next Wednesday. In the ad, McAuliffe calls Youngkin “a Donald Trump loyalist.”
Youngkin, meanwhile, has aired almost continuously since the Democratic primary in early June – and undisputed until this week.
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