President Biden returned to the campaign trail for the first time on Monday, six weeks after ending his reelection campaign amid growing calls from within his own party for him to withdraw from the race.
A White House official told Fox News that this will be the first of a “rich” schedule of campaign appearances over the next two months for the president on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said, “President Biden will be committed to getting the job done in the coming months.”
Biden is scheduled to team up with Harris, whom he endorses and who is the Democratic Party's top 2024 presidential candidate, at a Labor Day event in Pittsburgh, a union stronghold and the largest city in the western half of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.
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President Biden stands with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and First Lady Jill Biden during the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
According to Harris' campaign, the vice president is expected to say U.S. Steel – the second-largest steelmaker in the country, headquartered in Pittsburgh – should remain domestically owned and operated, and “underscore his commitment to always support American steelworkers.”
The stops are part of a Labor Day push by Harris' campaign in some of the seven key battleground states that are likely to determine the winner in her vice presidential contest against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump.
LaBolt said Biden will “campaign for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, spend time with core voters with whom I have built long-standing relationships, continue to invest in emerging industries like manufacturing, infrastructure and clean energy, and strengthen our alliances on the global stage.”
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Biden's crushing defeat to Trump in a debate in late June further fueled Americans' concerns about whether the 81-year-old president had the physical and mental strength to serve in the White House for another four years, and prompted calls from prominent Democratic Party supporters and elected officials for Biden to withdraw from the race, which he did on July 21.
Biden was met with chants of “Thank you, Joe” when he teamed up with Harris in Largo, Maryland, on August 15 for their first appearance together since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The event was billed as an official White House event to announce that the federal government was negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, potentially saving Americans billions of dollars, but the gathering had the feel of a political rally.
President Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris arrive to speak about the administration's efforts to cut costs during an event at Prince George's Community College, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Largo, Maryland. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Four days later, Biden received even bigger praise and applause when he delivered his main speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a remarkable moment for a president who had been effectively booted out of the race by his own party just weeks earlier.
Harris made a surprise appearance, joining her boss as he spoke at the podium inside Chicago's United Center.
Since replacing Biden as the party's standard-bearer, Harris has been riding a wave of momentum and energy, enjoying a rise in polls and a surge in fundraising.
Biden remains popular with many in his party's base, and the president has a long history of campaigning on behalf of Democrats — he was their most requested surrogate in the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives.
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A Biden political source told Fox News that the president “continues to have significant political appeal and influence with some of the key voters he needs to win the election in November.”
The strategist, who requested anonymity in order to speak more freely, told Fox News: “The stakes of the election are what made him run for reelection. He thinks about it every day. … Just because his name isn't on the nomination list doesn't mean he's less interested in winning this election. That's why you see him fighting, because everything he said when he was running, he still believes.”
“He'll go to Pittsburgh and talk about the economy and reach out to voters he has power over. I think you're going to see him do a lot of that,” the source added.
The president said his stop this weekend in Pittsburgh, a frequent visitor over the years, will be the first of many campaign stops between now and the November election.
President Biden spoke to reporters after attending Mass outside St. Edmonds Roman Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
“I'm on my way now,” the president told reporters Saturday.
But putting Biden back on the campaign trail comes with some risks: His approval rating has risen slightly since he gave up on reelection, but it remains low, and many Americans blame Biden and his administration for the higher gas and grocery prices they've paid over the past few years.
Moreover, Harris has repeatedly portrayed herself as a leader who is forging a “new path,” while Biden reminds voters of the present and the past.
“Kamala Harris is campaigning on Labor Day with her accomplice Joe Biden and desperately trying to gaslight the American people while Americans are working harder than ever to pay their gas bills, groceries and rent on this Labor Day because Kamala Harris is destroying our economy and proud of it,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement.
A Harris campaign source confirmed that the president and vice president will campaign together from time to time, and that Biden will focus on his home state of Pennsylvania, as well as Michigan and Wisconsin, two Rust Belt states that make up the Democratic Party's so-called “Blue Wall.”
The party had reliably won all three states for 25 years, until Trump narrowly won them in the 2016 election and took the White House.
Four years later, in 2020, Biden narrowly won all three states, defeating Trump and once again giving the Democratic Party the upper hand.
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Biden will travel to Wisconsin and Michigan later this week to tout his administration's efforts to cut costs, official events that will carry political weight given the president's continued support among white, working-class voters and union members.
LaBolt said the president's schedule ahead will be “full and he will be committed to securing the greatest progress possible for hardworking Americans through executive and legislative action.”
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
