President Joe Biden’s team quickly shooed away members of the press when he asked to answer questions during a campaign stop in Michigan.
Biden, 81, visited the city of Saginaw on Thursday to speak with volunteers supporting his re-election bid. Since 1992, Greater Saginaw County has chosen the statewide winner in each election.
Biden’s itinerary included a visit to a Victorian mansion owned by members of the Saginaw City Council and the Saginaw Public Schools Board of Education.
At that stop, Biden stood on the front porch with his back to reporters, who were out of earshot during his conversation with supporters. “Can I take a few questions?” he asked.
“We’re going to take a few questions,” said a woman wearing a Biden-Harris jacket.
But members of staff raised their arms and walked towards the crowd, repeating: ‘Thank you, press, back to the cars.’
President Joe Biden, 81, visited the city of Saginaw on Thursday during the Michigan leg of his re-election campaign
He stood with his back to the reporters and asked to answer a few questions before members of his team shooed the reporters away
Members of the media were out of earshot as Biden spoke to his supporters at that stop
A campaign official later said that reporters were unable to hear the president’s remarks due to a logistical problem and that it was not intentional.
Biden’s second event was held at a public golf course, called Pleasant View, on the outskirts of town.
Journalists, themselves barred from entry, watched as Biden entered the golf clubhouse.
The sitting president ignored a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his way in.
On 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 tour included stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Along with Michigan, these states are collectively known as a ‘blue wall’ for their historical support for Democrats.
A day earlier, 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 split by freeway construction in the 1960s.
Funding for the project comes from the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law in the first year of his presidency.
A day earlier, Biden stopped in Milwaukee, where he pledged over $3 billion for infrastructure projects in the city
Trump visited the battleground state last month, rallying auto workers during a Feb. 17 campaign event
Michigan voted reliably blue until Trump’s 2016 victory (pictured: Biden stepping out of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House after his campaign event)
Michigan has been a reliably blue state since the 1990s, a balance that is shifting 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 it will be nearly impossible for either candidate to win the presidency without a victory in Michigan.
Trump took his own turn last month when he spoke for more than an hour at an airport hangar in Waterford Township.
The former president blasted government leaders’ moves to speed up the auto industry’s transition from gas to electric vehicles, even bringing an auto worker to the stage.
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that’s taking place,” Trump declared. “You are talking about democracy. This is a terrible threat to democracy that is 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 won with an 81.1% landslide in the state’s Democratic primary.