Biden delivers call for national unity at Philadelphia rally

Biden, the former vice president and Delaware senator now pursuing his third bid for the presidency, trained his eye squarely on the general election as he cast the contest against Trump as a struggle to maintain American democracy.

And he struck a defiant tone toward those in his own party who had expressed discomfort with Biden’s emphasis on bipartisanship and his legacy of Washington deal-making, as he argued that the stakes of the coming presidential election should transcend partisan passions of the moment.

“They say Democrats are so angry, the angrier a candidate can be, the better chance he or she has to win the Democratic nomination,” Biden said. “Well I don’t believe it, I really don’t.”

“If the American people want a president to add to our division, lead with a clenched fist, closed hand, a hard heart, to demonize the opponents and spew hatred — they don’t need me,” he went on. “They’ve got President Donald Trump. Folks, I am running to offer our country — Democrats, Republicans and independents — a different path.”

But before Republicans and independents in many states have the opportunity to consider Biden’s candidacy, he will first have to convince Democrats throughout a long campaign that as a 76-year-old white man with a sometimes-controversial record on matters ranging from criminal justice to abortion rights to foreign policy, he is still best-suited to represent a party that has moved left in recent years, animated by a young and diverse liberal flank.

The Democratic loss of Pennsylvania in 2016, a crucial piece of Trump’s victory, was top of mind for Biden’s supporters here. Several of his most prominent supporters pointed to a Quinnipiac University poll from this past week that showed Biden with a lead of 11 percentage points over Trump in a head-to-head matchup in this state.