President Joe Biden’s campaign is turning up the heat on the presidential race and is using Washington, Pa., Mayor Joseph “JoJo” Burgess to do it as part of a multimillion-dollar ad blitz set to hit Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Burgess, a member of United Steelworkers Local 1557, is featured prominently in a minute-long Biden ad titled “Pro Worker.”
The ad contrasts Biden’s record with that of former President Donald Trump, with Burgess saying Biden delivered on measures helping Southwestern Pennsylvania’s working-class community while claiming that Trump failed to deliver.
“We listened to four years of Donald Trump talking about infrastructure because there was a lot of lip service with the previous administration. Joe Biden delivered on it,” Burgess said in the ad, which features imagery of Downtown Pittsburgh.
The ad mirrors talking points Biden made during a speech in Pittsburgh at the United Steelworkers headquarters Wednesday afternoon.
The president, a Scranton native, visited his hometown Tuesday and will be visiting Philadelphia on a multi-day swing to promote some of his new policy proposals.
The Biden campaign said the “Pro Worker” ad is a six-figure purchase that will show over the next five days during news programing and on regional sports networks like NBC Sports Philadelphia and SportsNet, including during Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates games.
It’s part of a $30 million ad blitz the Biden campaign is targeting at voters in battleground states.
Burgess has been a friend of Biden’s since before being elected mayor last year. He was first lady Jill Biden’s guest at the State of the Union speech in 2022.
He works at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works as an employee organization trainer. Burgess has been a steelworker for 23 years. In the Biden ad, he praised the infrastructure spending championed by the president.
“I see jobs coming to the area. I see infrastructure being fixed up. I see those policies working. We can strengthen our workforce in this country,” Burgess said.
Another 30-second ad that will be shown online as part of the Pennsylvania buy, features Burgess defending Biden against criticism about his age.
Critics of Biden, 81, have questioned if the president is too old to run for a second term. Biden, for his part, has defended his mental and physical fitness. Trump is 77 years old.
The ad blitz and Pittsburgh visit come as Biden is locked in a tight race with Trump.
Beleaguered by low approval ratings for most of his tenure, Biden is in a virtual dead heat in Pennsylvania with Trump, according to a recent CNN poll.
Wednesday’s speech in Pittsburgh is Biden’s first visit to Southwestern Pennsylvania since October 2022.
