WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — While GOP presidential candidates continue to join the 2024 race, President Joe Biden ramps up his re-election effort across the country.
On Saturday, Biden will hold his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a swing state that was a battleground in 2020 and last year’s mid-term election. He will hold a rally for union workers, a group that defines the president as a politician who has long been a supporter of union groups and the working class.
In the past couple of weeks, Biden has been promoting his economic initiatives and working on his messaging to working-class Americans.
The president will travel to California next week to continue with some of these Democratic events. That’s also some of the Republican candidates have been seen, including Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott, holding fundraising events this week and next.
DeSantis has actually taken some jabs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom the past couple of days, even though Newsom is not running for president.
In recent weeks, Newsom has been on a tour speaking in red states and now has made a call to toughen gun laws across the nation, which has led experts to question if he’s just making headlines or if it’s the unofficial start of a 2024 bid.
And last week, Newsom took his burgeoning feud with DeSantis to a new level, calling the 2024 Republican presidential candidate a “small, pathetic man” after the Florida governor sent a plane full of migrants to Sacramento.
DeSantis fought back.
“What I would tell him is, ‘You know what, stop pussyfooting around. Are you going to throw your hat in the ring and challenge Joe? Are you going to get in and do it? Or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and chirp? So why don’t you throw your hat in the ring?’ And then we’ll go ahead and talk about what’s happening,” DeSantis said.
But while a 2024 presidential bid from Newsom is unlikely, the GOP field continues to grow.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez filed paperwork Wednesday to launch his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, jumping into the crowded race just a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump appeared in court on federal charges in Suarez’s city.