US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Sunday campaigned in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that has become increasingly significant to him and President Donald Trump.
With only two days left until Election Day, the former vice president made the latest in a series of appearances in closely contested Pennsylvania, the state where he was born.
“We have to earn our democracy. We have to get out and vote,” Biden said at a drive-in rally in a parking lot outside a Philadelphia church, with supporters honking their car horns.
“We’re at an inflection point. So we have to vote like we never did before. Every day – every day – is a new reminder of how high the stakes are, of how far the other side will go to try to suppress the turnout, especially here in Philadelphia.”
Biden underscored the importance of Pennsylvania in Tuesday’s election.
“President Trump is terrified what will happen in Pennsylvania. He knows that if you get to have your say, he doesn’t stand a chance,” Biden told the Philadelphia event.
“There’s too much on the line to sit it out,” Biden added. “We only have two more days. In two more days, we can put an end to this presidency that has from the very beginning sought to divide us, to tear us apart.”
Biden also addressed black Philadelphians at the rally, urging them to vote.
He slammed President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected black communities in the US.
“It’s almost criminal the way he’s handled it,” he said, vowing a stronger test and trace operation and “full, fair and free distribution of therapeutics”.
“It’s a mass casualty event in the black community and it’s totally unnecessary,” he added.
He vowed to address “systemic racism” in the US and said George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other black people killed by the police, sparking protests across the world, would not be forgotten.
“The only thing that can tear America apart is America itself and that’s exactly what Trump has been trying to do,” he said.
“It’s wrong, it’s not who we are. We choose hope over fear, unity over division, science over fiction and yes truth over lies, the multiple lies he repeats.”
Biden leads in national opinion polls though the race is seen as close in enough battleground states that Trump could achieve the 270 votes needed to win in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the overall victor.
The Democratic governors of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all said they were upbeat about Biden’s chances in their states.
Meanwhile, Democratic vice presidential candidate Harris campaigned in Georgia on Sunday, a long-time Republican bastion that Democrats hope to take on November 3.
“So I’m back in Georgia. We have two days to go. And I came back to Georgia because I wanted to just remind everybody that you all are going to decide who is going to be the next president of the United States,” Harris said at an event in suburban Gwinnett County, which flipped Democratic in 2016.
It is the second trip to the state for Harris in eight days. Biden visited Georgia on Tuesday.
While Trump won the state by about five percentage points in 2016, polls continue to show a close tie in the current contest.
Biden is scheduled to appear again on Monday in Pennsylvania, with popstars Lady Gaga and John Legend set to join him. He will add a stop in Ohio on Monday, indicating his campaign views that Midwestern state as winnable.
Rita Osakwe