How ‘Amtrak Joe’ won back the midwest, and the presidency

Joe Biden pitched his campaign to working-class voters who felt left behind by Democrats

When Joe Biden launched his campaign for the presidency, he was by no means the runaway favourite. He did not promise revolution or even drastic reform.

His pitch to the Democratic party was simple: a return to normalcy. He would rebuild the “Blue Wall” of states that have won them the presidency in years past, and claw back working class midwestern voters who sent Donald Trump to the White House in 2016.

It was no easy task. In the industrial heartlands of rural Pennsylvania, where the decline of coal and steel had transformed towns and livelihoods, Mr Trump energised legions of voters who felt betrayed by the Democrats.

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Even after four years in power, with his promises to revive the coal and steel industries unmet, Mr Trump’s appeal was still strong there. The entire region was once a Democratic stronghold, but that support fell as industry died and the power of the unions diminished.  

Central to Mr Biden’s pitch to these voters was his own story growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where his father struggled to find work and eventually had to move the family out of the state. He spoke of it often on the campaign trail, both as a way of distinguishing himself from his opponent and connecting to working class voters.

“No matter where I’ve gone in life, I’ve always been led by the values that Scranton instilled in me at a young age – values of hard work, faith and a commitment to the middle-class,” Mr Biden said during a visit to his hometown last month.

And that pitch seemed to work. “I think Biden understands the people much more,” Scranton resident David Fallk, told The Independent, days ahead of the election.

“Trump is a New Yorker, Park Avenue guy. He inherited everything and Biden had to work for everything. It’s gonna help him here, it’s gonna help him in a lot of places because people can relate more to his working class background and his empathy for people. Trump has no empathy.”

The former vice president, who was once known by the nickname “Amtrak Joe” for his affinity for trains, built on that image by reminiscing often about his 30 years commuting by rail from his home state of Delaware to Washington DC.

“That train brought me back to my base every night. It kept me grounded, it kept me connected,” he said at an October rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

He also learned from Hillary Clinton’s mistakes by remaining laser-focused on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the final stretch. He borrowed from Trump’s playbook even, promising to invest in American jobs.

“Make it in Michigan. Make it in America. Invest in our communities and the workers in places like Warren,” he said during a trip to that town back in September.

The former vice president didn’t need to win back all the working class votes that went to Mr Trump, just chip away at them. Mr Biden had enough strength in major midwestern cities and suburbs to win if he just brought down his opponent’s lead in the rural areas – and that is precisely what happened. When the results came in, his strategy was vindicated.

Mr Trump won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by a razor-thin margin of 77,744 combined votes in 2016. Mr Biden’s margin of victory across the midwest is likely to be far greater – his lead in Michigan alone was 146,109. Pennsylvania is likely to near 80,000 when all is said and done.