Bidens return to Pa., visit private family home in Philly suburb before campaign speech

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Fresh off the heels of his energetic State of the Union address, President Joe Biden, joined by First Lady Jill Biden, made a stop in the Philadelphia area to continue his message to the American people.

The president and first lady visited the private home of Joe Cunicelli and wife Monica Gagliardi and their daughter Stella.

The Bidens delivered a gift basket to the family and held what the campaign billed as a “kitchen table” conversation with brothers Jack and David Cunicelli, who own 320 Market Cafe in Swarthmore and Media, Pennsylvania.

Biden later told reporters the older brother attended school with his son Hunter, in Delaware.

“We were talking about the school that he went to, they went to and family connections,” said Biden.

He also said he had a good conversation and “it was like the family I grew up with.”

Neighbors in the Rose Valley community lined the streets and applauded the pair as they arrived.

Cindy Holston, who lives a few doors down from the family, said she is thrilled to have Biden in her neighborhood. “I love Joe!” she told reporters, emphasizing the word “love.”

Holston said she is still ramped up from the president’s State of the Union address.

“He was so cool last night I just feel so excited,” said Holston. “His speech was so wonderful, I’m still really excited he did a great job.”

Not all neighbors were excited and one woman joked about the Secret Service and security being a lot to deal with.

Neighbor Bob Callfield said it was a bit much but says the stop was a pleasant surprise.

“I think it’s impressive, I didn’t know he was coming,” Callfield said.

Biden and his team later traveled to a packed house at Strath Haven Middle School in Delaware County where the president took the campaign stage in a combative turn. Dr. Jill Biden introduced her husband, saying, “He isn’t just the right person for this job. He is the only person for this job.”

“We can’t wake up the day after the election like we did in 2016, terrified of the future ahead of us thinking, oh my God, what just happened?” she concluded.

Taking the podium, the president told the cheering crowd that nothing less than democracy is at stake in November. Although he hadn’t mentioned his opponent by name once during the State of the Union, he had no problem doing so on the campaign trail.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are trying to take away our freedoms,” he told the crowd. “That’s not an exaggeration. Well, guess what? We will not let him.”

Much of the speech shared — if not simply reworded — the themes he discussed in his State of the Union. The president once again listed off a series of what he sees as accomplishments including creating jobs, rebuilding the economy, and lowering drug prices for seniors.

“We finally beat big pharma,” he said.

He also made many of the same promises to make the tax system fairer, build more affordable housing, and push for universal background checks and a ban on weapons with high-capacity magazines.

“We beat the NRA when I proposed and signed the most significant gun safety law in 30 years,” he said. “Now we have to beat them again.”

He also repeated that he would sign any bill that legislatively guaranteed abortion rights nationally.

“I promise you, if we take back Congress, we will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”

He also gave another shout out to Sen. Bob Casey, and told Congress to pass “Bobby’s” bill to end shrinkflation, using the examples of half-filled potato chip bags and 20% smaller Snickers bars.

At the end of the speech, Biden told the story of how he asked Jill Biden to marry him five times before she said “yes.”

He ended the event saying, “I married a Philly girl!”

Biden’s next stop is Georgia, another battleground state.