By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
MANCHESTER – Lowering the costs for Americans is the theme of President Joe Biden’s expected address in Manchester Monday afternoon, his first visit to the Granite State in his bid for re-election.
Biden, a Democrat, is expected to deliver a campaign message and attend a private campaign event later in the day.
Details are being withheld about where and when by the campaign as of Sunday night. This story will be updated when that information is released.
The visit comes just days after an energetic and forceful State of the Union address Thursday and is among the first in a launch of Biden’s general re-election campaign.
He visited battleground states in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan over the past three days and will come to New Hampshire after skipping it during the first-in-the-nation primary in February where he was not on the ballot, but won in a write-in effort.
The election appears to be a rematch with former President Donald Trump the Republican.
Trump lost here to Biden 52.7 percent to 45.4 percent.
Biden spoke in Woodstock, N.H. on Nov. 16, 2021, to discuss infrastructure victories of his administration and visited a “red list” bridge over the Pemigewasset River on that day. In April of 2022, he spoke in Portsmouth, N.H.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, campaign manager for Biden told Reuters, “We firmly believe that this race is going to be won on the ground among key states that afford multiple pathways to 270,” referring to the number of votes needed to win reelection in the Electoral College.
The New York Times said President Biden’s decisive victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary provided him with a dose of good political news amid a season of Democratic anxiety about his campaign and he met with the state’s all Democratic congressional delegation seemingly giddy about the coup that they and their supporters pulled off.
It was symbolic and came as Trump triumphed in the state’s Republican primary, beating Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who was endorsed by Gov. Chris Sununu.
She has since bowed out of the Republican Primary and Sununu endorsed Trump last week. Sununu is not running for re-election.
Biden chose not to campaign in New Hampshire because he favored South Carolina as first and the Democratic National Committee selected it to replace New Hampshire as the first-in-the-nation primary.
But that did not happen, in part due to state law that requires New Hampshire to go first and both Republican and Democratic support to ignore the party’s wishes.
Biden’s write-in victory in February came over challenger Dean Phillips, a Minnesota congressman. Phillips said Biden, at age 81, represented the old guard and said there was a need for new blood, though he has since bowed out and endorsed the president.
Biden launched a $30 million campaign ad directly addressing his age saying “I’m not a young guy” but that he knows how to get things done.
The visit will be focusing on costs and InDepthNH.org plans to cover the event.