Biden visit Tuesday caps are rushing to Ohio, once a Longshot Ohio Columbus campaign vice president Joe Biden

Joe Biden will make his first campaign visit to Ohio on Monday, signaling the former Vice President’s hopes of winning over the State Democrats, who were clearly lost four years ago.

The Biden campaign said the former vice president planned to give an afternoon speech in Toledo and then travel to Cincinnati for a voter mobilization event.

Vice President Mike Pence is planning a “Make America Great Again” campaign halt in Columbus on Monday as he stood up for Trump, who was recently banned from the campaign after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Biden expanded his Ohio advertising presence last week, adding cash specifically to radio in rural western counties and the state’s eastern and southeastern Appalachian Mountains, where Trump had great success four years ago. The president won the state by 8 percentage points in 2016 against the Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The announcement comes as polls show the race is coming to an end in Ohio, with Trump consistently lagging behind in the major industrial nations of the north, which he won in 2016.

This includes Michigan, which is within calls of Toledo and is in the northwest corner of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Trump campaign characterizes Biden as a latecomer in a state where his ground operations – including 28 field offices and over 117 employees – have been active for more months.

“While Joe Biden and the Democrats are looking for Ohio in the eleventh hour, Trump Victory never took Buckeye State for granted and developed the strongest grassroots operation in our state’s history,” said spokesman Dan Lusheck in a statement on Saturday. “We’re looking forward to a big win for Team Trump on November 3rd.”

Biden’s team said Ohio was always on their wish list. Biden’s work in the auto industry and civic upbringing in northeast Pennsylvania added to hope.

However, Biden’s team used to spend more aggressively on television advertising in Iowa and Georgia because the two states, while also a leap for a Democratic candidate, have fewer larger media markets and therefore cost less on advertising.

Trump’s support has declined in the Ohio suburbs this year, particularly in and around Cincinnati. This emerges from polls by Republican legislators concerned about whether Trump’s plan to get more voters than 2016 in rural parts of the state can make up for the losses.

Cincinnati also has a second strategic purpose. Five-time Republican MP Steve Chabot from Ohio’s 1st home district is fighting for the seat with Democrat Kate Schroeder.