BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. — The Biden campaign continued its push to Pennsylvania voters on Saturday, the swing state the former vice president himself has visited the most this campaign.

What You Need To Know

  • Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, are making a series of campaign appearances in Pennsylvania on Saturday

  • The couple appeared at a drive-in rally in Bucks County, which voted narrowly Democratic in 2016, late Saturday morning

  • Biden is appealing to swing state voters in the lead-up to the election with nearly 10 days left until Nov. 3

  • Jon Bon Jovi is set to perform at a campaign stop alongside Biden in Luzerne County on Saturday evening

Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, made their first stop of the day at a drive-in rally in Bucks County, southeast of Allentown, which voted narrowly Democratic in 2016.

Dr. Biden introduced her husband, offering personal insight into the qualities she believes her husband will bring to the presidency. Speaking of their late son Beau Biden, Dr. Biden said her husband has faced “unimaginable tragedies,” but his faith in God and his country have kept him moving forward. 

“His faith is in you, it’s in us,” Dr. Biden told the crowd. “Through it all, he learned how to heal a broken family. It's the same way he’ll heal a country — with love and understanding, and with small acts of kindness. He has a plan to calm the chaos of Donald J. Trump’s America.”

Both Jill and Joe Biden are Pennsylvania natives — the former vice president was born in Scranton, and his wife spent most of her life in nearby Willow Grove.

Biden acknowledged their history in the state during his address, saying in the area he is “known as Jill Biden's husband” and is “proud of it.” 

“She and I are here today because it’s go time, folks,” Biden told the crowd. “It may come down to Pennsylvania. I believe in you, I believe in my state.”

Biden has vowed to win Pennsylvania, but if he falls short, his path to victory narrows substantially.

The candidate continued to lean on his message that President Trump failed the American people in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. coronavirus caseload reached record heights with more than 83,000 infections reported in a single day on Friday.

The U.S. death toll, meanwhile, has grown to 223,995, according to the COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins University. The total U.S. caseload reported on the site Friday was 83,757, topping the 77,362 cases reported on July 16.

“There's going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways,” Biden warned. “Experts tell us we're gonna lose nearly another 200,000 lives nationwide over the next several months. All because this president cares more about the stock market than he does about you, because he refuses to follow the science.”

The former vice president also addressed his stance on fracking, a topic that may pose an added hurdle to the campaign following Biden’s comments on the subject during Thursday’s presidential debate. Biden angered some oil industry advocacy groups by suggesting that the U.S. will have to transition away from fossil fuels eventually if it is going to get serious about climate change.

“By the way, folks, I’m not banning fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else,” Biden told the crowd, adding: “No matter how many times President Trump lies.”

Trump’s allies immediately began running new attack ads seizing on the Democrats’ inconsistent answers on energy following Thursday’s debate. And Trump played a video at his Pensacola rally that included past comments from Biden and Harris about fracking, which Harris supported banning during her primary campaign.

“That could be one of the biggest mistakes made in presidential debate history,” he said at a Friday rally at The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida. 

Biden also plans a stop in Luzerne County later in the day, where Jon Bon Jovi is set to perform. His appearance is reminding some of Election Day eve in 2016, when he was part of a huge outdoor concert with the Obamas and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia. That event came mere hours before Clinton lost to Donald Trump.

Luzerne County itself went easily Republican four years ago. The county is considered a bellwether in Pennsylvania – it has voted for the presidential candidate who carried the state in every election since 1936, and has only not gone with the candidate who won 3 times, in 2004, 2000, and 1968. Obama won the county twice, and prior to Trump's victory, it had not gone for a Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.