President Biden is expected to visit Pittsburgh next Monday and is likely to attend the city’s famed Labor Day parade, two people familiar with the plans tell CBS News.
The White House had no immediate comment, but the president’s appearance at the parade, one of the largest gatherings in the nation on the national holiday for workers, would mark his return to a celebration that doubles as a major political event in Pennsylvania — a key battleground state and one of the few holding competitive gubernatorial and U.S. Senate contests this year.
Whether the Democratic Party candidates for those respective offices, Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman, also plan to appear at the parade was not immediately clear. Spokespeople for their campaigns didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday night.
Mr. Biden last attended the parade in 2018 and his presidential campaign had plans to do so in 2020 before the event was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The parade was also canceled last year.
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The president is also scheduled to visit Pennsylvania on Tuesday, when he is poised to speak on federal support for law enforcement in Wilkes-Barre, delivering a speech he was originally scheduled to give in mid-July before testing positive for COVID-19.
A presidential visit to Pittsburgh would launch a busy week as the White House prepares to embark on an aggressive fall campaign schedule ahead of the midterm elections. The White House is holding a ceremonial bill signing for the Inflation Reduction Act on Sept. 6, followed by a scheduled White House visit on Sept. 7 by former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama — the couple’s first visit to their former home since leaving office.
Mr. Biden will then travel to Ohio on Sept. 9 to tout the passage of bipartisan legislation designed to buoy the nation’s semiconductor industry.
Aaron Navarro contributed reporting.
