Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph R. Biden is looking to cash in on President Trump’s charge that he “deserted” Pennsylvania when he moved with his parents as a grade-schooler to neighboring Delaware.
The former vice president, who represented Delaware in the Senate for more than three decades and often touts his family ties to Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the stump, assured backers in a fundraising email blast that he has “never forgotten where I came from.”
“My family did have to leave Pennsylvania when I was 10 — we moved to Delaware where my dad found a job that could provide for our family,” Mr. Biden said. “This is proof that Donald Trump doesn’t understand the struggles working folks go through.”
Mr. Biden has surged to the front of the pack of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders since entering the race late last month, and has been on the receiving end of several jabs from Mr. Trump, including at a recent campaign rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania where he said Mr. Biden “deserted you.”
“He’s not from Pennsylvania. I guess he was born here, but he left you folks,” Mr. Trump told his backers. “He left you for another state. Remember that please. I meant to say that.”
Mr. Biden said the attack shows Mr. Trump is out of touch with the struggles of middle-class Americans who have to relocate for work in order to keep a roof over the head of their families and food on the table.
“And he doesn’t understand that the longest walk a parent can make is up a short flight of stairs to their child’s bedroom to sit on the end of the bed and say, ’honey, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We have to move,’” he said. “You can’t go back to your school. You won’t see your friends. You can’t play on that team. You can’t be in the choir because Daddy lost his job or Mommy lost her job.
“My dad had to make that walk in Scranton, Pennsylvania,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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