With an eye on a 2024 reelection bid, President Joe Biden takes his economic message to union workers in Wisconsin

US President Joe Biden speaks about his economic plan at LIUNA Training Center in DeForest, Wisconsin, on February 8, 2023.
US President Joe Biden speaks about his economic plan at LIUNA Training Center in DeForest, Wisconsin, on February 8, 2023.
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DEFOREST – If President Joe Biden wants a second term, the path could start in Wisconsin where his tiny victory in 2020 over former President Donald Trump sparked a two-year war in this evenly split battleground state over the state's system of elections.

Now, following his State of the Union address and ahead of a potential 2024 announcement, Biden made his first stop in Dane County — a voting powerhouse for Democrats that also is one of the only areas of the state with consistent population growth — to promote his economic plan that he argues will address the challenges of an aging population and a stagnant workforce.

Vintage Joe Biden returns: Biden zeroes in on working class message

He arrives at a time when most of Wisconsin voters don't approve of the way Biden is handling the presidency and as voters nationally are sour on the idea of a 2020 rerun between Biden and Trump, according to recent polling by the Marquette University Law School that showed 34% wanting Biden to run in 2024 and 29% backing a Trump campaign for president.

On Wednesday, Biden pressed an economic message in an appeal to blue-collar workers who have in recent years diverted their support to Republican candidates.

"A typical middle-class family for decades was the backbone of America. The middle class has been hollowed out — it's been hollowed out," Biden said at the Laborers' International Union of North America training center in DeForest, 14 miles north of Madison.

"You saw it Janesville," he said, referring to the 2008 closure of a General Motors plant that had employed 7,000 workers at the peak of its 89-year lifespan.

"Once-thriving cities and towns became shadows of what they used to be. When those towns were hollowed out, something else was lost: pride, self-esteem, a sense of self-worth. But now we're going to turn that around and build an economy where no one's going to be left behind."

'Finish the job': 5 takeaways from the State of the Union address

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his economic agenda at a training center run by Laborers' International Union of North America, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in Deforest, Wis.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his economic agenda at a training center run by Laborers' International Union of North America, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, in Deforest, Wis.

 

To a crowd of Democratic officials, donors, and dozens of union workers, Biden touted the hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs under the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. He spent hours afterward meeting with workers at the facility honing those skills.

Sarah Varga, a 21-year-old laborer who lives in Janesville, introduced Biden at the event. She said after the speech she doesn't as a practice share whom she votes for but believes Wisconsin's union labor industry has been strengthened under Biden.

"I think the mood is definitely getting better with President Biden. Before that it was, we have to work to pay our bills. Now that we have more opportunity and availability to work even harder and get more training, it makes me unbelievably happy. I think it really raises the spirits for all laborers," Varga said.

More:President Biden celebrates union gains during speech at Milwaukee's Laborfest, continues broadside against 'MAGA Republicans'

Republicans also focus on Wisconsin with 2024 RNC held in Milwaukee

Biden's middle-class focus comes as Republicans are also putting priority on Wisconsin by holding their 2024 national convention in Milwaukee.

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Wednesday that Biden would not succeed in his blue-collar appeal, characterizing the Wisconsin stop as a victory lap that "is out of touch with American families who are struggling to keep up with Biden’s failed economy."

"Every day is a crisis for American workers facing rising costs to feed their families, yet Joe Biden continues to deflect, divide, and duck blame without offering solutions," she said in a statement.

More:As Biden prepares 2024 reelection run, Democrats worry blue-collar voters are slipping away

Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said he expects Biden's economic message to resonate in rural areas of Wisconsin as well as the urban centers that undergirded his 2020 win.

"Wisconsin in presidential politics is a must-win state. It's no coincidence that President Biden's first stop after the State of the Union is the Badger State. The president's message feels tailor-made for Wisconsin voters," Wikler said.

Addressing the nation Tuesday night, Biden touted recent economic gains and his plan to build the economy “from the middle out” — arguing the U.S. is in a better position now than it was two years prior during a speech in which he at times drew fire from Republicans.

But facing a newly divided Congress, Biden also urged Republicans to work with him to “finish the job” on issues ranging from expanding health care coverage to reforming policing practices and supporting seniors — a nod to a potential reelection campaign.

"This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America," he said Wednesday.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden brings his economic message to union workers in Wisconsin