MADISON - Former Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Wisconsin on Thursday to meet with the family of a Black man who was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer, which sparked protests that gave way to violence and the deaths of two people protesting his shooting.
The meeting comes two days after President Donald Trump toured the destructive aftermath of the shooting and said he backed off calling the mother of Jacob Blake, who is now paralyzed, because attorneys got involved.
Biden's visit to Kenosha will come as he draws another contrast with his opponent in supporting criminal charges for the Kenosha officer involved.
"He believes that, based on everything he has seen, charges appear warranted, but that there should be a full investigation to ensure all the facts are known first," Biden's campaign said.
It's the first visit to Wisconsin by Biden this year, and the first to the state by a Democratic presidential nominee since 2012.
Just two weeks ago, Biden accepted his party's nomination from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, instead of Milwaukee after Democratic National Committee officials moved the national convention to a mostly virtual format due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Vice President Biden will hold a community meeting in Kenosha to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face," his campaign said in a release. "After, Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden will make a local stop."
Biden's visit also comes after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers asked Trump not to visit Kenosha, citing concerns over whether the visit would spark more unrest, promote armed men to gather at protests or devote resources for his security that are needed elsewhere.
Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian asked Trump to stay away, too.
"It shouldn’t take rioters burning down the City of Kenosha to get Joe Biden to visit our state," Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Andrew Hitt said in a statement. “Last week, Tony Evers urged the President of the United States not to visit Wisconsin because it would ‘hinder healing' ... Will Governor Evers also urge Joe Biden to stay away?"
A spokeswoman for Evers and Antaramian did not immediately respond to questions about whether they also want Biden to stay away.
Antaramian in a recent appearance on CNN said he also thought it was too soon for Biden to visit the city.
Kenosha resident Tabitha Miller said neither candidate should come to the city because “the community is trying to heal.”
“There was a lot of concern from the citizens that Trump coming to town would bring all of this (tension) back up,” Miller said, adding she feels the same about Biden’s visit.
“I understand the position of the president and he should come here and show the people he supports us. But as far as the timing of it, it really wasn’t safe even for the citizens, let alone the president to come here or potential president.”
Biden told reporters in Delaware that he hasn't spoken to Evers about the visit but has talked to his staff.
"There's been overwhelming requests that I do come," he said. "We have to heal."
Republicans and President Donald Trump have hammered Biden and Democrats for not campaigning in Wisconsin, seeking to compare the decision to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's absence during the 2016 general election. Trump narrowly carried Wisconsin.
Anna Kelly, spokeswoman for Trump's campaign in Wisconsin, said Biden "is trying to use a hurting community as a political prop for his failing campaign" — just a day after Trump visited the city during his campaign.
"While true leaders like President Trump are working with state and local officials to help Kenosha heal, candidate Joe Biden is more interested in fomenting dissent and division," Kelly said, using the same words Biden has used against Trump.
Biden’s visit comes as a wave of new polling suggests the Democrat has preserved a clear national lead over Trump, though the surveys are mixed about whether that lead is holding up or narrowing a bit.
Biden's average lead in national polling — a little over 7 points — is the same as it was a month ago.
Biden leads Trump by 7 points — 50% to 43% — in a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, down from a 12-point edge in June.
Most of the surveys released Wednesday showed no significant narrowing in the race compared with a week or a month earlier.
A new poll released Wednesday by Fox News taken between Saturday and Tuesday shows Biden is leading Trump by 8 percentage points among likely voters, suggesting race has not narrowed since the conventions or the unrest in Kenosha.
Biden also leads Trump by 7 points — 47% to 40% — in a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Monday and Tuesday, which is largely unchanged from surveys over the last few weeks by the same pollster.
At the same time, a state poll in Pennsylvania by Monmouth showed Biden’s lead narrowing in that key battleground to 4 points from 13 points six weeks earlier.
In a new nationwide ad, Biden condemned the violence that has flared in some of the nation’s cities. The ad combines clips from his speech in Pittsburgh on Monday with images of unrest, including a scene from Kenosha.
“I want to make it absolutely clear,” Biden says. “Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. And those who do it should be prosecuted.”
Biden accuses Trump of being “determined to instill fear in America because Donald Trump adds fuel to every fire.” He ends the ad by quoting from Pope John Paul II, “Be not afraid.”
The ad is airing in nine states, including Wisconsin.
Craig Gilbert, Ricardo Torres and Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.
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