SCRANTON, Pa. — It’s hard to find a section of the U.S. that’s a darker shade of red than northeast Pennsylvania. Its roadways are lined with Trump/Pence signs, serving as a near-constant reminder of the popularity of the unconventional GOP ticket.
But on Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden waded into the region for what will likely be his final stop in his former hometown before leaving office in January. His mission was to make a final plea for Hillary Clinton to the nearby natives of Scranton, and let the crowd know how important the Keystone State is to the outcome.
“It all may come down to Pennsylvania. Not a joke. And by the way — the two places in Pennsylvania who will determine the outcome here are going to be Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh,” Biden said. “They’re the two places we have to do well.”
The vice president’s stop was part of a two-day, four-stop swing throughout the commonwealth on behalf of Clinton, who he has been stumping for since August, having made his campaign trail debut only miles from Sunday’s event. It’s also part of the Clinton campaign’s effort to maintain hold of Pennsylvania and it’s 20 electoral votes, which could ultimately deny Donald Trump the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the White House.
Throughout Sunday’s rally at Johnson College, Biden struck a passionate tone before the native crowd, intermittently dropping Scranton-isms and mentioning his upbringing in the region.
“Home is where your character is etched, where your values are set. Where your view of the world and your place in it begins to form,” Biden said before laying out the importance of Tuesday’s election. “It’s about the character of the nation.”
“I left Scranton, but Scranton never, ever left me,” he said later.
Biden used Trump as pawn throughout the event, arguing that Trump doesn’t know the “aspirations” of Americans. However, he saved much of his ire for Sen. Pat Toomey, who has become a prime target of Clinton surrogates in recent weeks over his refusal to take a stand for or against Donald Trump. Sitting alongside Biden on stage during Sunday was Katie McGinty, Toomey’s Democratic challenger. Polls say she holds a slight lead going into Tuesday.
While he conceded that Toomey is likely a “more decent guy” than the GOP nominee, he argued that the two are “cut from the same cloth,” pointing to Republican proposals that he claims would raise taxes on the middle class.
At one point during a riff about climate change, the vice president hit the pair for comments on climate change, particularly Toomey’s claim that the science is still up for debate on the issue. He went on to wonder if Toomey believes “Galileo got it right” on gravity.
“Obviously, he wasn’t educated in Scranton,” Biden quipped.
Voters in the area still have goodwill saved up for the former Delaware senator, whose family moved away from Scranton when jobs dried up in the region. Biden’s Scranton ties even made an appearance at the Democratic National Convention as delegates held up campaign signs featuring an outline of Pennsylvania and the city’s name scrolled across.
“He’s always represented Scranton so well — has made us proud. When he speaks, you can feel that he has a true love for the city,” said Joe Weschler, the president of the Scranton City Council. “He’s always come back home and represented us well, and I think he brings Scranton values to the rest of the world.”
“He’s down to earth. He’s a straight-shooting human being. He doesn’t pull any punches, tells it like it is,” said Tom Shields, 65, a lifelong resident of the Electric City. “He’s a gentleman. A gentleman and a scholar.”
Biden’s swing through the state was the precursor to Monday’s main event in Philadelphia, where Clinton will be joined by the likes of President Obama, Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen for a rally on Independence Mall.
