Biden was up close and personal in Pennsylvania. He hopes it can help him win

In Scranton, Biden stopped by the house he lived in until age 10. He’s built a whole brand around the three-story Colonial, which is now an official trolley stop on a tour of Scranton. That Biden spent more than 24 hours in the city of about 70,000 people shows not only the campaign’s commitment to the narrative but Biden’s soft spot for the city.

The motorcade seemed to take the long route to the house, bypassing throngs of Scrantonians waving flags and signs as it wound through. Once Biden climbed up the stairs and into the house, he didn’t emerge for nearly two hours.

Marty Kearns, who grew up in the home, took Biden through it, along with family and neighbors.

“He got a little choked up thinking about his grandfather, who first bought the house,” Kearns said. “Here he is coming back into the house as president of the United States.”

When a staffer noted the time, Kearns told the president there were Hank’s hoagies, should he want to take some food to go. Instead, Kearns said, the president flashed a grin, told his staff, “I’m gonna have a hoagie,” and jetted out the back door to eat with a group of kids playing outside.

“He’s very personal,” Kearns said. “I think more people should see that he’s just a warm, smart guy.”

Kearns’ mother, Anne, lived in the home until her death in December. Biden had visited her about a dozen times over the years and when he saw her on election day in 2020, he promised to return as president.

Biden’s personal story of tragedy — losing his daughter and wife as a young husband and then later, the death of his son Beau from brain cancer, is a story that the campaign thinks voters can relate to.

“You know what it means to ache,” Joe Kennedy III, a former congressman and the eldest grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, said at a smaller event in Philadelphia on Thursday. “And you know that a lot of other families know that, too.”

Biden again turned away and dabbed at his eyes. It was one of his final stops on the Pennsylvania tour, and he emphasized the point of the last three days.

“You’re my ticket to the White House,” Biden told the room. “You, Pennsylvania.”

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