CLEVELAND, Ohio – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden visited this city the day before the election at the behest of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in a last ditch effort to motivate enough grassroots voters to come forward. present against Donald Trump in Presidential State. won easily four years ago.
“When Sherrod tells me to come to Ohio the day before, I’m coming,” Biden said in Cleveland on Monday.
“Ohio, one more day.”
The day before the former vice president’s arrival, campaign officials kept the background of the event vague, sharing only that there were plans to “encourage the people of Ohio to vote.” But the fact that Biden was pressured into entering Cleveland, a Democratic-friendly city, indicates a willingness within the party to appeal to black voters in a state where their participation could be decisive.
Ohio polls show a bite between Biden and Trump. The two were actually together in the city for the first presidential debate – just before Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19. The current tension has prompted Biden’s team to add a stop to their schedule while campaigning in neighboring Pennsylvania, widely seen as a must-have win for him, for the rest of the day.
“Ohio in 2008 and 2012, you put your trust in me and Barack,” Biden said, after sprinting on stage. “In 2020, I ask you to trust me again. I am proud of the coalition this campaign has built to welcome Democrats, Republicans and Independents. I present myself as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as US President.
Democratic activists and voters alike believe Biden has a chance to restore the state’s traditional spokesperson status in their favor. If they do, they will have to overcome what critics have long described as a set of barriers to voting, especially among communities of color. This year, that only includes one mail-order mailbox per county, except in Cuyahoga County, Cleveland, which has two.
“He recognizes the opportunity here in Ohio,” Cuyahoga County Democratic Party chair Shontel Brown told the Daily Beast. “People like to say Ohio is red. We are more “rigged” than “red”. “
“If you look at the numbers, we’re more purple,” Brown continued. “Cleveland has the highest density of black votes and it is obviously critical in this election that our city could be a deciding factor for the presidency.”
Elected officials and outside groups targeting black voters have made special efforts to pre-election registration, a strategy in tandem with the Biden team’s approach at the national level.
“There has been a lot of effort on the part of the NAACP to get people to register to vote,” said Danielle Sydnor, head of the organization’s Cleveland chapter. “Collaborative efforts around voter registration and voter mobilization were at the top of this electoral cycle. Activation at polling stations was also created to deter the suppression of voters and people from leaving, which made a huge difference.
Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), an endorser of Biden in Congress with whom the candidate said she spent time before his speech with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), added that she was happy to see him do one last. trip.
“We’re happy Biden is here,” she told the Daily Beast. “We’re going to go to Ohio.”
Trump triumphed in the state in the last presidential election, capturing his 18 electoral votes much more easily than his other awards like Wisconsin and Michigan. This year, the Biden campaign has been cautiously hoping to make a breakthrough for months – Ohio has been included as a possible location to “reclaim” in their public battlefield strategy.
“I don’t care about Donald Trump’s efforts. There is nothing – nothing – that is going to stop the people of this nation from voting, ”Biden said.
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