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Biden Says He Will Travel to Key States During Fall Campaign

Biden Says He Will Travel to Key States During Fall Campaign

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Thursday he plans to campaign in person during the final two months before Election Day, after months staying close to his Delaware home out of concerns about the coronavirus.

Biden plans to begin traveling to critical election states including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Arizona after Labor Day.

“I’m going to do it in person,” he said of campaigning.

He will “get out safely without jeopardizing people’s health,” he told donors during a virtual fundraiser.

Biden, 77, has held about one in-person event per week this summer with journalists and staff in the audience, but most of his campaign has been virtual since the pandemic hit in March. That has led to taunts from President Donald Trump that he won’t come out of his basement.

“I’m a tactile politician. I really miss being able to, you know, grab hands, shake hands. You can’t do that now. But I can, I can in fact appear beyond virtually in person in many of these places,” he said.

His campaign said on Monday that Biden and running mate Kamala Harris will begin getting regular tests for Covid-19 and that staff who interact with them will also be tested.

Biden said his team would abide by safety rules in a way that is “totally consistent with being responsible” and “without jeopardizing or violating state rules about how many people can in fact assemble.”

Biden has not traveled beyond Pennsylvania or Delaware since flying to Houston earlier this summer to visit the family of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police.

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