President Joe Biden’s team quickly ushered away members of press when he asked to take questions during a campaign stop in at Michigan.
Biden, 81, visited the city of Saginaw on Thursday to speak to volunteers supporting his reelection bid. Since 1992, greater Saginaw County has selected the statewide winner in every election.
Biden’s itinerary included a visit to a Victorian mansion owned by members of the Saginaw City Council and Saginaw Public Schools Board of Education.
At that stop, Biden stood on the porch with his back to reporters, who were out of earshot during his conversation with supporters. ‘Can I take a couple questions?’ he asked.
‘We’re going to take a few questions,’ a woman in a Biden-Harris jacket said.
But members of staff raised their arms and walked toward the crowd, repeating, ‘Thank you, press, back to the cars.’
President Joe Biden, 81, visited the city of Saginaw Thursday during the Michigan leg of his reelection campaign
He stood with his back to reporters and asked to take a few questions before members of his team shooed the journalists away
Members of the media were out of earshot when Biden spoke with his supporters at that stop
A campaign official later said reporters were unable to hear the president’s remarks due to a logistical issue and the slight was not intentional.
Biden’s second event was held at a public golf course, called Pleasant View, on the outskirts of the city.
Reporters, who were barred from entry themselves, watched as Biden stepped inside the golf clubhouse.
The sitting president ignored a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his way in.
At the golf course, he met with Hurley Coleman III, executive director of the Saginaw County Community Action Center, and his 13-year-old son.
The Saginaw trip followed stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Along with Michigan, these states are collectively known as a ‘blue wall’ for their historic support of Democrats.
One day prior, Biden stopped in Milwaukee, where he committed $3.3 billion to infrastructure projects in underserved communities.
This included $36 million to reconnect parts of Milwaukee’s 6th Street, which was divided by highway construction in the 1960s.
The funds for the project come from the bipartisan infrastructure law signed in the first year of his presidency.
One day earlier, Biden stopped in Milwaukee, where he pledged over $3 billion to infrastructure projects in the city
Trump visited the battleground state last month, where he rallied autoworkers during a February 17 campaign event
Michigan reliably voted blue until Trump’s victory in 2016 (pictured: Biden steps off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House following his campaign event)
Michigan has been a reliably blue state since the 1990s, a balance that shifted in 2016, when Trump became the first GOP candidate to win the state since 1988.
Biden won the state by a comfortable margin in the last presidential election.
However, leaders in both parties have said that it will be nearly impossible for either candidate to win the presidency without a victory in Michigan.
Trump took his own trip last month, when he spoke for more than an hour in a Waterford Township airport hangar.
The former president blasted the move by government leaders to accelerate the auto industry’s transition from gas to electric vehicles, even bringing an autoworker on stage.
‘It’s a horrible, horrible thing that is taking place,’ Trump professed. ‘You’re talking about democracy. This is a terrible threat to democracy taking place.’
Other grievances included inflation and security at the Southern border, two hot-button issues with voters.
Trump delivered his impassioned speech 10 days before the state’s Republican primary on February 27, saying, ‘If we win Michigan, we win the election.’
He ultimately won with 68.1% of the vote.
That margin was even larger for Biden, who cruised to victory by a landslide 81.1% in the state’s Democratic primary.