Biden meets with Blake family in Wisconsin, has community meeting
KENOSHA, Wisconsin -- Former Vice President Joe Biden made one of his most aggressive campaign trips in months, visiting with the family of Jacob Blake and meeting with community leaders in Kenosha on Thursday.
Biden, and his wife Jill, visited with Blake's family Thursday afternoon for about an hour at Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport inside a private building off the tarmac before heading to the community meeting.
Blake attorney Ben Crump tweeted a statement saying that it had been a "very engaging" meeting.
"What I came away with was the overwhelming sense of resilience and optimism that they have about the kind of response they're getting," Biden said later at a community meeting at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha. "His mom talked about -- my wife asked to say a prayer. And his mom said a prayer. She said, 'I'm praying for Jacob and I'm praying for the policeman as well. I'm praying that things change.' "
The Democratic nominee’s visit, according to his campaign, was an effort to "bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face," after Blake, who is Black, was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer, and in the midst of protests across the country over racial inequality.
"We have to heal. This is about making sure that, that we move, that we move forward," Biden told reporters of the trip, which came two days after President Donald Trump’s own visit to Kenosha.
While in Kenosha Tuesday, Trump did not meet with the family of Blake. Trump claimed that he's not meeting with Blake's family during his Wisconsin visit because they wanted to involve lawyers.
The dueling visits followed days of local protests and the killing of two protesters in late August after authorities say Kyle Rittenhouse, a pro-police 17-year-old, opened fire. Social media accounts associated with Rittenhouse's name contain references to support for Trump.
Biden's visit came despite warnings from some local leaders to both the former vice president and Trump about the fragility of the city in the wake of Blake’s shooting, as tensions continue to run high over differing accounts from Kenosha Police and the Blake family about the incident.
In addition to Biden’s visit, the campaign released a new ad on Thursday, titled "We’re Listening," in which Biden declares "now is the time for racial justice." The ad, which will air digitally in Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, is part of a $45 million investment in five seperate ads this week alone.
The trip marked the first time Biden visited the critical swing state of Wisconsin in 674 days -- after stumping for Sen. Tammy Baldwin there in October 2018 -- and was the first time the former vice president has held an event outside of his home states of Pennsylvania and Delaware since the coronavirus pandemic brought the in-person campaign trail to a halt.
Biden's trip was also the first visit to Wisconsin by a Democratic presidential candidate in the general election since 2012 -- when President Barack Obama visited the state the day before the election.
