Returning to the campaign trail for the first time since an assassination attempt on his predecessor, President Joe Biden is expected to point to policy — not personality — to make his case against former President Donald Trump.
Ahead of public events in Nevada on Tuesday (16), Biden announced new actions to reduce housing costs, including a plan to cap rents charged by certain landlords. Officials say the measures are aimed at easing a significant financial burden felt by voters.
But it also allows Biden to sell voters on the substance of his proposals, rather than attacking his rival’s morals and bellicose personality.
Biden’s campaign — and the president himself — have pledged to step back from more divisive rhetoric following an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally that killed one attendee and injured two others. Biden told NBC News he intended to “focus on him, focus on what he’s doing” when he referred to targeting Trump during a call with donors, even as he criticized Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and other campaign rhetoric.
During the interview with Lester Holt, Biden admitted that using the term “target” was a mistake.
A senior adviser told CNN that the campaign’s directive was to use discretion on all matters related to Trump “until further notice.” The Biden campaign and the White House acted immediately after Trump was injured at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday (13), pulling TV ads, halting political communications and postponing the president’s trip to Texas on Monday (15).
Biden will appear on Tuesday in an interview with BET, deliver remarks at the 115th NAACP National Convention and join Black lawmakers at a summit to discuss economic initiatives. Housing costs have been a particular financial issue for many Americans during Biden’s tenure, with housing costs rising by more than 20%.
The events will be closely watched as Biden fights off growing calls for him to drop out of the race after his debate performance last month. CNN reported Monday that private efforts to knock Biden out of the race continue in Democratic circles, but Biden said in a separate interview that he was “1,000 percent” in the race.
A memo written by Biden’s Nevada campaign communications director writes that “Nevadans want lower costs,” which Trump’s Project 2025 agenda will not deliver.
Trump has put forward his own policy proposals aimed at winning over Silver State voters. At a rally in Nevada, which has the highest proportion of tipped workers in the country, Trump introduced a policy to stop taxing tipped workers. Nevada’s two Democratic senators have since co-sponsored a Republican bill to do just that.
And Trump told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an interview that he supported freeing up federal land to develop more affordable housing — one element of the policy implementation Biden will announce Tuesday.
Biden won Nevada in 2020 by nearly three points. Polls now show a Republican could win Nevada for the first time in 20 years, a shift Biden is trying to prevent.
To deepen voter engagement in the state, Biden campaign offices in Latino and Black neighborhoods in Nevada are providing residents with entertainment events and connecting them to resources for free housing assistance and free mammograms.
“It’s almost like constituent relations,” a senior campaign official told CNN . “They are putting down real roots in the community.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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