Biden Heads to Ohio as Polls Show Delegate-Rich State is Tied

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden added a last-minute campaign stop in Cleveland on Monday after Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown implored him to make a final pitch in the state where polls show him tied with President Donald Trump.

Ohio isn’t critical to Biden’s path to the White House, but Democrats are optimistic about the nominee’s ability to win the state. According to Five Thirty Eight’s average of polls, Trump leads Biden in the state by 0.2%, but the RealClearPolitics average has Biden up by 0.2%. Both show the outcome too close to call.

Ohio awards 18 delegates of the 270 needed to secure the White House. No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio.

The trip to Ohio, Biden’s third during the general election, will come before the Democrat wraps up his campaign with stops in Pennsylvania. After attending the presidential debate in Cleveland in September, Biden embarked on a train tour through eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. He also made a campaign stop in Cincinnati.

On Saturday, Biden and former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance on an all-staff campaign call, during which Biden told his staff he would be traveling to Ohio at the behest of Brown.

After the stop in Cleveland, Biden will attend a canvass kickoff in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, which borders Ohio, followed by two drive-in rallies in Pittsburgh.

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