VP Joe Biden to stump for Hillary here Thursday


YOUNGSTOWN

Vice President Joe Biden, who campaigned in the Mahoning Valley on behalf of President Barack Obama and himself six times in 2008 and 2012, will be back Thursday stumping for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“I love Joe Biden. The Mahoning Valley loves Joe Biden. Joe Biden is one of us,” said Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras. “If there’s one man who could represent the ethos of the Mahoning Valley, it’s Joe Biden. Unlike Donald Trump, who can’t get [top] surrogates here, we’re glad to have Joe Biden here for Hillary Clinton.”

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was at Youngstown State University on Aug. 15 at an invitation-only event delivering a foreign-policy speech. Also there were Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican vice presidential nominee, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“I am very excited to have Vice President Joe Biden visit the Mahoning Valley,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th. “He brings a lot of credibility in speaking to the values of the hard-working people in my congressional district.”

Biden campaigned three times in the Valley during the 2008 campaign and three times in 2012. During his last stop in the area at Youngstown’s Covelli Centre on Oct. 29, 2012, Biden was a late replacement for Obama, who stayed at the White House to monitor a major hurricane that hit the East Coast.

Former President Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominee’s husband, also spoke at that rally.

In a brief announcement Friday, the Clinton campaign said Biden would be campaigning for Clinton and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Thursday in the Mahoning Valley and in Cleveland.

Read more about the visit and the campaigns in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.