Delaware State University professor discusses significance of President Biden's speech in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- President Joe Biden is speaking in Philadelphia Thursday evening at Independence Hall in Old City. The historic site is the birthplace of democracy and is the backdrop for Biden's prime-time speech.
The president is expected to focus on what he calls the Battle for the Soul of the Nation.
The choice of Philadelphia seems strategic as there are two high-profile midterm elections in Pennsylvania this November.
The eyes of the nation will be watching Biden as he takes the stage on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
CBS3 spoke with Dr. Donna Patterson, chair of the Department of History, Political Science and Philosophy at Delaware State University about the significance of his speech to Pennsylvania, just two months ahead of the midterm elections.
This is a very important speech that President Biden will give tonight in Philadelphia. And we see that he just left the state. He'll be back in the state, I think, Monday in Pittsburgh. Really thinking about what's happened in recent years in this country. The climate, both kind of coming off of 2016, 2020, January 6 and so I think it's a really important speech about democracy and the future of democracy in this country. I think it will resonate with voters who tend to lean Democrat, moderate and conservatives who may not be ultra-MAGA, as they were described. The Pa. senate race is very important. Just the interest, the national, even international interest that this Pa. senate race has gotten for months even going to the primaries. People are watching, people know that it's a very important race. What we've also seen in the last few days, is Republicans really galvanizing. I think they feel like Dr. Oz may be losing some momentum, the fundraising is out the roof.
Patterson says she believes the president and other high-profile Democrats will be crisscrossing the commonwealth in the weeks to come, with a highly contested Senate race and gubernatorial race hanging in the balance.
I think the gubernatorial race is also very important. I think the Republican candidate actually gets in, that going to make a big shift in terms of the way Pennsylvania looks, you know, the next four to eight years. I think Pennsylvania in some ways is a microcosm of what we're seeing in the nation right now; in terms of these very disjointed political views, and in some cases more left and more right, and how do you bring all these voices together?
Biden's speech is expected to begin at 8 p.m. You can watch it on CBS News Philadelphia.
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