2 top Democrats have scheduling conflicts and won't meet Biden in Pennsylvania today, report says
- Two top Pennsylvania Democrats' campaigns told the AP they have scheduling conflicts and will miss a Biden event in Pittsburgh on Friday.
- 10 people were injured in a bridge collapse just hours before Biden is set to deliver remarks about infrastructure.
- National polls consistently show Biden's approval to be underwater by double-digits.
President Joe Biden is returning to Pennsylvania on Friday, but two of the Democratic Party's midterm hopefuls won't be there to greet him, the Associated Press reported.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, one of the leading candidates in a closely watched US Senate race, and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the party's likely nominee for governor, are both missing Biden's visit to Pittsburgh, the AP reported.
Fetterman praised Biden's visit but said he would be in Harrisburg on Friday night, so he can attend an event for Pennsylvania Democrats. A Fetterman aide told NBC News' Sahil Kapur that the lieutenant governor could run into Biden if the president visits the site of a Pittsburgh bridge collapse that injured 10 people just hours before Biden's infrastructure-focused event.
It was not immediately clear why Shapiro will be absent from Friday's event. "I'm looking forward to traveling with POTUS in his home state over the coming months as we fight to move PA forward," he wrote on Twitter following the AP's report.
—Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) January 28, 2022
Instead, only Rep. Conor Lamb, a longtime Biden ally who is running against Fetterman for the Senate seat, is attending Friday's event.
"President Biden first announced his infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh, and Conor looks forward to welcoming him back and talking about all the good jobs that bill will create in the Pittsburgh area and all over Pennsylvania," Lamb campaign manager Abby Nassif Murphy told the AP.
Pennsylvania Democrats who won't be on November's ballot will also be at Friday's event, the AP reports. Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited, and Sen. Bob Casey, who has two more years left, will be in Pittsburgh.
This isn't the first scheduling conflict to occur as Biden tries to venture more out of Washington. Stacey Abrams, a nationally known voting-rights advocate who is also running to become Georgia's governor, missed Biden's highly anticipated voting rights speech in Atlanta earlier this month. Abrams' camp scoffed at reporters who read anything into her absence, but other top civil rights groups also boycotted the appearance.
"Our message to the American people is simple – we are laser focused on getting things done that will cut costs for American families and create good paying jobs," a Biden advisor told Insider in a statement.
Biden is far from the first president to be in this situation. Some top Democratic hopefuls stiff-armed President Barack Obama in 2014 ahead of a difficult midterm year for the party.
National polls consistently show Biden's approval to be underwater by double-digits. According to FiveThirtyEight's weighted average, Biden has just over an 11-percentage point gap between his disapproval and approval rating. A recent AP-NORC found a sizeable majority of Americans did not want Biden or former President Donald Trump to run again in 2024.
Insider has reached out to Fetterman and Shapiro for comment.