Bucks County knows Joe Biden and he knows Bucks Countians. That was the message made clear at Saturday’s drive-in rally in Bristol Township.
The former vice president and Democrat gave an energized speech to about four dozen cars filled with supporters. An unofficial overflow crowd gathered in the nearby parking lot.
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“It may come down to Pennsylvania. The stakes have never been higher,” Biden said.
Biden’s campaign event in the parking lot of Bucks County Community College’s Gene and Marlene Epstein Campus at Lower Bucks gained national air time on Fox News, MSNBC, and across internet streaming platforms.
Biden thanked the crowd for coming out. He said he wishes everyone could be closer, but he didn’t want to create a “superspreader” event amid the pandemic.
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Additionally, he thanked Bucks County Commissioners Diane Ellis-Marseglia and Bob Harvie. He noted he served as a county commissioner in Delaware, joking he ran for the U.S. Senate because the job was too hard.
“You affect their lives every day,” he said to the commissioners.
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Biden pointed to Democratic congressional candidate Christina Finello and said he looks forward to seeing her Washington D.C.
“I’m looking forward to serving with you, kid. I’m looking forward to serving with you. You’ve got the grit, toughness and smarts to get this done. I really am. I mean it sincerely,” Biden said.
“She’s going to fight like hell for the people of Bucks County, the hard working folks,” he said.
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Biden jumped into his campaign stump speech and made the case that Trump is not fit to hold the office.
“Times are hard. Unemployment is way up. Folks are worried about making their next rent or mortgage payment, whether their health care will be ripped away in the middle of a pandemic. Worried about sending their kids to school, worried about not sending their kids to school. They see folks at the top doing better than ever, while they’re left to wonder: ‘who’s looking out for me?’ he said. “That’s Donald Trump’s presidency.”
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Biden said the president is “refusing to follow the science” on COVID-19, adding that it cost the country lives and damaged the economy.
“The American people didn’t panic. He panicked, and he still has no plan,” Biden said. “All he can do is double down on his Park Avenue way of looking at the world.”
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Biden said that if he was elected, he would pull the country together and improve the response to COVID-19, which has killed more than 220,000 Americans since March. He said his plan focuses on testing, contact tracing, and wearing a mask, including coming up with a plan for distributing the vaccine fairly and funding for protective equipment.
“I’ll shut down the virus and not the economy. We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said.
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The candidate – citing recent reporting on Trump’s taxes and refusal to make them public – said the president gamed the tax system. He also noted while most Americans had financial impacts from the pandemic, billionaires did better than ever.
“Guys who avoid paying what they owe in taxes, because they figure the rest of us, the ‘little people,’ can pick up the tab for the country,” Biden said.
“Give me a break,” he added.
PHOTOS: Biden Rallies, Trump Fans Gather Outside
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Citing a recent report by Wall Street firm Moody’s, Biden said his plan for economic recovery would help lift the country by performing better than Trump’s plan and creating 18.6 million jobs.
“That’s 7 million more jobs, and $1 trillion more in economic growth than the president’s plan,” he said.
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Biden said his plan would not raise taxes on Americans who earn less than $400,000 per year, but increase taxes for corporations and the rich, including firms that pay nothing in yearly taxes.
Biden promised to improve the Affordable Care Act, let people keep their private insurance, offer a “Medicare-like public option,” and lower costs for care and prescription drugs, while protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Hitting back at attacks from Republicans, he said he would not ban fracking in the state.
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“Donald Trump never delivered on his promise for a big infrastructure plan. He’s done nothing, and our roads and bridges are crumbling — just as climate change is accelerating more frequent extreme weather events, not just with wildfires in California or hurricanes along the Gulf Coast,” Biden said.
The candidate promised to introduce a large infrastructure plan and fight climate change.
“We can do something about it. But we’ve got to come together,” he said.
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“I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president, and I will work as hard for those who don’t support me as for those who do,” Biden boasted. “That’s the job of a president. It’s a duty of care for everyone.”
Biden said all voters need to get out and make their voices heard.
“The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself,” he said to wrap up his speech.
Dr. Jill Biden encouraged the crowd to get out and vote for the upcoming election.
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“Joe Biden will be a president for all people. And he has a plan to calm the chaos of Donald Trump’s America,” she said.
She said Americans’ differences aren’t irreconcilable and the country can come together.
“That’s not who we are. Is it Bucks County?”
“You are showing that the heart of this nation is still beating with kindness and courage,” she said.
Tara Huber, a Neshaminy High School teacher and president of the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers, introduced the former vice president.
She told the crowd Biden knows the importance of the work educators do and supports workers’ unions. Additionally, she stated Biden supports a safe return to schools for students and staff and advocates for measures to better manage the pandemic.
“This is the election of our lives … the future of public education is on the line,” Huber said. “It’s imperative every single one of us makes a plan to vote.”
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Finello, the Democratic candidate running against incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, encouraged voters to flip the congressional seat and also the White House.
Bucks County Democratic Committee Chairperson John Cordisco warmed up the crowd by telling them that Biden is someone who understands them.
Jim Greenwood, the well-known former Republican congressman for the area who endorsed Biden, also spoke before the crowd “because I care about the future of our nation and our world.”
The Bidens were headed next to a mid-afternoon campaign event in Luzerne County.
Outside the community college venue, a few dozen Biden supporters gathered to try to catch a glimpse of the drive-in rally. A few hundred energized Trump supporters in vehicles were also nearby making noise and voicing support for the president’s re-election campaign.
During the rally in which he called for unity, Biden called the group making noise in the background of his speech “chumps” as some sound from the counterprotect could be heard.
The Biden and Trump campaign are focusing many resources on Pennsylvania as it is seen among the most important swing states in the country.
The president is likely to make a campaign stop in Upper Bucks County on Halloween.
Photographer Darryl Rule contributed to this story.
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