MILWAUKEE (CN) — In his first public appearance since all but sealing the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination after primaries in four states, President Joe Biden delivered a speech at a Boys & Girls Club in Milwaukee on Wednesday to drum up support for major infrastructure investments in historically marginalized communities.
Biden’s stop in Wisconsin’s largest city also comes on the heels of his assertive State of the Union address last week, during which he repeatedly called out Trump without using his name in what felt like a stump speech for a second term in office.
The president’s speech on Wednesday touted roughly $36 million in federal grant money earmarked to transform a stretch of 6th Street in Milwaukee, right near the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club where he spoke. With the funding, the major north-south corridor and surrounding predominantly Black community divided by the construction of Interstate-94/Interstate-43 in the 1960’s would get updates like dedicated infrastructure for walking, biking and transit, as well as new shade trees and other green infrastructure.
Referring to the neighborhood near the Boys & Girls Club, the president said that “more than 100 years ago, Bronzeville was home to a thriving hub of Black culture and commerce,” but that mid-century urban renewal devastated all of that. 17,000 homes and 1,000 businesses in the area were torn down when the highway was built during a process that divided communities instead of connecting them, he said.
“Today, we’re recognizing that history to make new history,” Biden said, adding that his administration is investing $3.3 billion in 142 similar projects across 42 states “to right historic wrongs.”
The 6th Street project is being funded by the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative from the Environmental Justice wings of his White House. The initiative promises that 40% of federal funds for climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing and similar investments go to historically disadvantaged communities.
“Everything we’re doing is connecting people with opportunity, not disconnecting them from opportunity,” Biden said.
Multiple Democrats representing Wisconsin in state and federal government showed up to support Biden in Milwaukee on Wednesday, including Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, U.S. Representative Gwen Moore and Governor Tony Evers.
Current polls paint a mixed picture for Biden as he hopes to run it back against Trump and seal victory as he did in 2020. An Emerson College poll from last Thursday showed a dead heat between the two candidates with independents leaning toward the president, but a Times/Siena poll from the week prior showed Biden trailing Trump by five points.
Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 by just over 20,000 votes. Despite persistent false claims of fraud from Trump and his supporters on the political right, Biden's victory was confirmed by a recount Trump demanded, multiple lawsuits in state and federal courts, a nonpartisan audit, and reviews by a conservative law firm and a former state supreme court justice who was ultimately fired by the legislators who hired him to investigate the election.
Biden’s trip to the Upper Midwest battleground reaffirms his administration’s focus on Wisconsin — and specifically the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee — as a key base of support. The president’s first venture outside Washington post-inauguration in 2021 was to Milwaukee, and he has visited the state at least a half dozen times as commander in chief. The city has been selected as Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign’s Wisconsin base of operations.
Milwaukee hosted the Democratic Party's Covid-19-impacted nomination convention in 2020, and it is hosting the Republicans' convention this July.
The president was last in Milwaukee in December to champion “Bidenomics” at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce. He was in the northern Wisconsin town of Superior in January celebrating new federal funding to fix the John A. Blatnik Memorial Bridge connecting Superior to Duluth, Minnesota.
Politically purple Wisconsin is considered pivotal linchpin for whatever candidate prevails in the 2024 election. The state’s presidential preference primary is on April 2.
After leaving the Badger State, Biden is expected to campaign in Saginaw, Michigan on Thursday.
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