President Biden’s visit to suburban Chicago on Wednesday was like a number of his recent trips — to a politically competitive district where he could promote both his domestic agenda and his party’s prospects in next year’s midterm election.
In Crystal Lake, Ill., a conservative enclave in the blue state, Biden toured a lab and day-care facility at McHenry County College and spoke to a couple hundred people about his proposed federal investments in workforce training, community college costs, and preschool and child-care subsidies. He also put in a plug for the area’s congresswoman, a top Republican target.
“This woman here, hang on to her,” Biden said, looking at his side to Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood.
This was Biden’s third such visit to a House battleground in eight days, as the White House has married the president’s summer sales pitch for his infrastructure plans in Congress to Democrats’ political spadework ahead of the 2022 election.
