Biden ditches sneakers for smart shoes with big soles and extra grip as he flies to battleground states Arizona and Nevada to shore up support over Trump and reverse dwindling polls with Latino voters
President Joe Biden will visit key battleground states Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday in a Western campaign aimed at boosting his support there against Donald Trump.
Biden left the White House wearing a pair of dress shoes with an oversized grippy sole, appearing to have at least temporarily left behind the “lifestyle sneakers” he recently wore.
The president’s footwear has become a point of interest amid reports that aides are trying to give him more stability ahead of the election campaign after a series of trips and stumbles.
His latest trip will take Biden to Washoe, Nev., and Maricopa, Ariz., two crucial swing counties in those states, where he will court voters of color and union workers.
Nevada and Arizona are two of the seven battleground states that the Biden campaign says are necessary for a victory in November. The other five are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina.
President Joe Biden will visit key battleground states Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday in a Western campaign aimed at boosting his support there against Donald Trump
Biden stepped out in dress shoes with flexible grooves in the sole as he made his way to Marine One
βAs we enter the general election, we have several clear paths to victory through a number of critical swing states,β Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a memo released Monday.
His three-day trip will be a combination of campaign and official events, topped off by a fundraising round.
He stops in Reno on Tuesday for a campaign event; next, Las Vegas, where he will speak about lowering housing costs; and he’ll end the day in Phoenix with a campaign event.
During his trip, he will also launch Latinos con Biden-Harris (Spanish for Latinos with Biden-Harris), part of the campaign’s efforts to win over the voting blocs crucial to giving Biden a second term.
The incumbent president will specifically target black and Latino voters. Polls show these groups β along with younger voters β are slowly pulling away from Biden due to their frustration with the economy and the higher cost of living.
On Tuesday in Phoenix, the president will deliver speeches at a local Mexican restaurant in the south part of the city, a predominantly Latino area.
On Wednesday, he will talk in Phoenix about his Investing in America agenda before hosting two fundraising events in Dallas. And he will hold another fundraiser in Houston on Thursday before returning to the White House.
Biden will visit Washoe, Nev., and Maricopa, Ariz. visits two crucial swing counties in those states, where he will court voters of color and union workers
The president climbs the small stairs of Air Force One before flying west to campaign
During his trip, he will also launch Latinos con Biden-Harris (Spanish for Latinos with Biden-Harris), part of the campaign’s efforts to win over the voting blocs crucial to giving Biden a second term.
The trip is part of his post-State of the Union blitz, where he will argue that his agenda has helped stimulate the economy as he tries to boost his poll numbers against Trump.
In Arizona, Trump leads Biden by five points Polling average from RealClearPolitics. In Nevada, Trump is six points higher poll average.
In their 2020 contest, Biden won both states by narrow margins. He won Nevada by 2 percent and won Arizona by just 10,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast. It was the first time since 1996 that Arizona voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.
Latino voters are particularly attracted to Trump. The campaign opens bilingual offices in every state.
Latinos make up about one in four eligible voters in Arizona and Nevada.
Arizona, and especially Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, was the epicenter of the post-2020 election battle after Trump falsely claimed he won the state and his supporters conducted recounts to try to find evidence of fraud (they did they don’t).
US President Joe Biden in more casual shoes as he walks to Marine One as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, March 13, 2024
Biden has previously worn Hoka shoes on the campaign trail
In Phoenix, Biden will discuss his CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which helped boost employment at semiconductor factories in the area.
Arizona will hold its primaries on Tuesday, the day Biden is in the state. Progressives in the state are encouraging a protest vote against Biden over his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Organizers are urging Democrats to vote for Marianne Williamson.
Democrats are also hopeful about efforts in each of those states to put initiatives on the 2024 ballot that would establish a constitutional right to abortion. The party has successfully used the issue to get its voters β especially women β to the polls for the 2022 midterm elections.
βWith abortion on the ballot in both Nevada and Arizona, new, high-paying jobs in clean energy and chip manufacturing, and organized labor behind us, the Biden-Harris campaign is in a strong position to continue winning these voters. the Southwest,β Chavez Rodriguez said in her memo.