The high-stakes fight for working-class voters moved to Pennsylvania on Tuesday as a slate of Democratic White House hopefuls vowed to use the power of the presidency to crack down on corporate America and strengthen organized labor.
But beneath all the agreement at the AFL-CIO conference, a feud between two leading candidates, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, began to spill out into the open. Neither mentioned the other by name onstage. Yet both moved to undermine the other's credibility with a group of voters that may hold the key to the 2020 presidential election.
Sanders was the most aggressive when he ticked down a list of unpopular votes from Biden's decadeslong record in politics as he faced hundreds of union members in a Philadelphia convention hall.
"Unlike some of the folks running for president, I did not vote for the war in Iraq, I did not vote for the Wall Street bailout, I did not vote for a terrible bankruptcy bill and, maybe most important, I did not vote for the disastrous trade policies like NAFTA," Sanders declared.
Speaking to reporters afterward, the Vermont senator repeatedly called out Biden by his first name, charging that "Joe" has a long record of voting against the interests of the working class.
"All I wanted to do today was make it clear that in terms of the needs of working people, I don't have a record I have to apologize for," Sanders said.
Earlier in the day, Biden took a jab at Sanders by reminding union members that the health care plan championed by the Vermont senator — known as "Medicare for All" — would ultimately force union members from their private insurance plans to a government-backed system.
"In mine, you can keep the health insurance you bargained for if you like it," Biden said.
The tension between the two leading candidates came during what organizers called a "workers' presidential summit," an event in downtown Philadelphia that gave the Democratic Party's 2020 class an opportunity to speak to hundreds of union officials in a premier swing state.
Besides Biden and Sanders, the lineup featured Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, California businessman Tom Steyer, Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, New York entrepreneur Andrew Yang and author Marianne Williamson. A handful of candidates, most notably Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, did not attend.
A Warren spokeswoman said she had "prior commitments" in New York, noting that she attended an AFL-CIO forum over the summer.
Arguably, no group of voters will play a more critical role in 2020 than those gathered at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Tuesday afternoon. Trump won the presidency on the backs of white working-class voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan in Wisconsin — three states that hadn't supported a Republican for president in almost three decades before Trump.
Biden has built his decades-old political brand as a native of working-class Scranton, Pennsylvania. He reminded union members on Tuesday about his nickname "Working-class Joe" and called labor unions "the backbone of the country."
"The bad news is I've been around a long time. The good news is that I've been around a long time. You know me. I've never not been with you," Biden said.
Yet his long record in Washington gives his rivals in both parties ample political ammunition. Some conference attendees received flyers highlighting the low points of Biden's record.
The former Delaware senator is the only 2020 Democratic candidate who voted to support the North American Free Trade Agreement. As vice president, he helped implement a rescue package for the nation's big banks. He also wrote a 2005 bankruptcy bill backed by credit card companies. And as the only 2020 contender in Congress back in 2002, he is the only candidate who voted to authorize use of military force in Iraq.
Biden also supported the trade deal written by the Obama administration known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump ultimately killed once he took office. Still, in the Senate, he voted against a number of trade deals, including those with Singapore, Chile and Oman.
Until Tuesday, there was little public tension between Sanders and Biden, although Sanders, like other Democratic contenders, has long hoped that Biden's early advantages in the Midwest would ultimately fade because of his record on trade.
Sanders, by contrast, aggressively opposed the trade deals. That's not to say Sanders does not have tough questions to answer, however.
His signature health care plan, Medicare for All, would end the private insurance system. That's something many union members oppose because it would wipe away the health care benefits they fought to win.
Facing pushback from labor, Sanders recently added language to the plan to provide additional oversight for union members.
But on Tuesday, Sanders was decidedly on offense.
"I did not vote to bail out the crooks on Wall Street. Joe did," Sanders told reporters. "So not only is there a difference in terms of our vision for Americans, there is a very strong difference in terms of our record."
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TRUMP TRIAL OPENING-AP EXPLAINS — Opening statements in Donald Trump’s hush money trial set the stage for weeks of testimony about the former president’s personal life and places his legal troubles at the center of his closely contested campaign against President Joe Biden. An AP reporter debrief. Newsroom Ready and Consumer Ready edits.
BIDEN-EARTH DAY — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving households in low- and middle-income communities — while blasting Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. Newsroom Ready and Consumer Ready edits.
President Joe Biden campaigns in Tampa, Florida. Events at 3 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.
++ Candidate schedules are subject to change. Coverage of some events is on merits. ++
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4:15 p.m. — Live US Network Pool of President Joe Biden’s campaign event in Tampa, Florida.
TRUMP-HUSH-MONEY-MEDIA-BLOGS — With cameras not allowed at former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York, live news blogs are coming into their own as an important news tool. SENT: 710 words, photos.
TRUMP-HUSH MONEY — A longtime tabloid publisher is expected to tell jurors about his efforts to help Donald Trump stifle unflattering stories during the 2016 campaign as testimony resumes in the historic hush money trial of the former president. David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, will be back on the stand Tuesday. SENT: 1,160 words, photos, video. UPCOMING: 1,200 words after trial resumes at 9:30 a.m.
ELECTION 2024-TRUMP-ELECTION INTERFERENCE — Donald Trump faces serious charges in two separate cases over whether he attempted to subvert the Constitution by overturning the results of a fair election. Yet it’s a New York case centered on payments to silence an adult film star that might provide the only legal reckoning this year. Some legal experts are dubious about attempting to tie a record-keeping case to manipulating an election. SENT: 1,050 words, photos.
SUPREME COURT-TRUMP-CAPITOL RIOT-THINGS TO KNOW — The core issue being debated before the Supreme Court on Thursday boils down to this: Whether a former president is immune from prosecution for actions taken while in office — and, if so, what is the extent of the immunity? SENT: 1,070 words, photo.
ELECTION 2024-PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania primaries on Tuesday will cement the lineup for a high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are expected to win their presidential nominations easily. SENT: 890 words, photos. Polls close at 8 p.m.
ELECTION 2024-BIDEN-ABORTION — President Joe Biden is heading to Tampa, Florida, to decry the state’s looming six-week abortion ban as his campaign continued to seize on reproductive rights as a key campaign issue. SENT: 890 words, photos, video.
TRUMP-HUSH MONEY — Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. SENT: 1,270 words, photos, video. With TRUMP-HUSH MONEY-TAKEAWAYS — Opening statements provide a clear roadmap of how prosecutors will try to make the case that Trump broke the law, and how the defense plans to fight the charges.
BIDEN-EARTH DAY — President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities — while criticizing Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. SENT: 860 words, photos.
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Former president Donald Trump, center, awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Opening statements in Donald Trump's historic hush money trial are set to begin. Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool)
