NEWS

Biden to make campaign train stop in Alliance Wednesday

Ed Balint
The Repository
Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. shake hands Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019, after a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by ABC at Texas Southern University in Houston.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is scheduled to stop in Alliance late Wednesday morning as part of a train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The "Build Back Better Express" tour will begin in Cleveland before traveling to Alliance. Biden's message will focus on the economy, job creation, and workers and their families, according to a campaign news release.

"I think that he is obviously keen to what most workers and workers in Ohio and workers across the nation are looking for in their president," Stark County Democratic Party Chairman Samuel F. Ferruccio Jr. said Tuesday.

He added that the Alliance visit is "really important and it shows you how much Ohio is still in play. I think it's important that Joe Biden spends some time in Stark County."

The visit will follow the first presidential debate Tuesday night in Cleveland. Biden and Republican President Donald Trump were set to take the stage in their much anticipated presidential debate, which will be hosted by the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.

The Biden campaign said the former vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will be traveling by train and stopping to meet with voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

"These are the very voters that Trump appealed to in 2016," the news release said. "Trump talked then about the 'forgotten man.' But as soon as he won, Trump promptly forgot them."

"In Alliance, Biden will hear directly from Ohioans who have been impacted hardest by President Donald Trump's broken promises," the campaign added.

The train tour is scheduled to begin around 9:45 a.m. in Cleveland before arriving in Alliance around 11:45 a.m. Locations were not included in the press advisory, and the specific times for the stops were listed as being tentative.

Alliance Police Department Sgt. Aaron Perkins said local authorities are aware of the visit.

"We are working with some agencies to assist them (with security)," he said.

The campaign said the train stops will be livestreamed at https://JoeBiden.com.

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315

and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP