Biden heads back to Wisconsin and Michigan as he looks to shore up Democratic ‘blue wall’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is getting to be a familiar face around the Great Lakes — and with a November rematch against Donald Trump looming, that’s no accident.

Biden is off on a two-day swing through Wisconsin and Michigan starting Wednesday, looking to create momentum for his reelection campaign after a fiery State of the Union address last week in which he laced into Trump as a dire threat to the nation’s core ideals of democracy and freedom. On Tuesday night, he clinched a second straight Democratic nomination, winning enough delegates after a decisive victory in Georgia. The president has visited Pennsylvania, Georgia and New Hampshire ahead of his latest midwestern trip.

Michigan and Wisconsin are part of the “blue wall,” along with Pennsylvania, where Biden was born and has made more campaign trips than to any other state. Trump flipped all three to win the White House in 2016, but Biden took them back four years ago and likely needs to hold them if he’s going to secure a second term.

Biden also plans to travel to North Carolina and other battleground states in the coming weeks. He has been overseeing openings of field offices as his campaign hires and trains organizers and begins assembling volunteers.

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