SCRANTON, Pa. — The 2024 campaign trail will wind through Scranton next week as President Joe Biden is set to speak Tuesday in his hometown.
Scrantonians are no strangers to visits from Joe Biden as a senator and as a vice president. His Scranton fans say there's something special about welcoming him home as president.
This upcoming visit to Scranton will be Biden's second as president. The first was in 2021 when Biden spoke at the Lackawanna Trolley Museum touting the infrastructure bill that would later become law.
It's also where Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, a Scranton city councilman at the time, met one of his political idols.
"We had a great conversation about his family in Ireland and my family in Ireland and how they kind of know each other. And just how proud he was of the Biden Street sign, and how his mother would have been so proud if she had been alive to see that, that a street right in the heart of downtown was named after him," Commissioner Gaughan said.
Gaughan hopes to see President Biden again when his campaign comes to Scranton. The White House says Biden will be in the Electric City Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Pittsburgh. Biden is expected to speak on Tuesday, the day after Tax Day, about proposed changes to the tax code.
The White House has not released details on when or where that speech will happen.
Former Scranton Mayor Jim Connors hopes to be there. Connors expects this will be the first of several campaign stops in Scranton ahead of November.
"It does, and he'll be back; I know he'll be back. I believe that women are so upset by what's been happening with the Supreme Court that it's going to be women who are going to determine this election," Connors said.
The Biden event will also happen one week from Primary Election Day where both Biden and Trump are on the ballot. Commissioner Gaughan believes the campaign is already looking ahead to Pennsylvania's importance in the general election.
"I think all eyes are on Pennsylvania, all eyes are on the city of Scranton and Lackawanna County in terms of the political aspect of the upcoming 2024 presidential election. We're going to play a very important role, which is also very exciting," Gaughan said.
Information from the campaign indicates that President Biden may be staying the night in Scranton before heading on to Pittsburgh, which would be a rare move for a presidential visit, though we have not confirmed those details of the president's travel plans.