Biden touts his economic record as the midterm elections draw near

Biden’ four-state, three-day trip includes California, Illinois and Pennsylvania

In a last-ditch attempt to persuade voters ahead of the midterms, President Biden on Thursday highlighted his economic record and slammed Republicans for supporting policies that were "reckless and irresponsible."

Biden appeared at a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico alongside Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as part of a personal final-days campaign sprint

Joe Biden

President Joe Biden speaks about his student debt relief plan at Central New Mexico Community College, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Albuquerque, N.M.  (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky / AP Newsroom)

"Folks take a look at who's complaining. This there's this I find fascinating. This I find fascinating," he said. "The people who are complaining, the MAGA Republicans who sit in Congress had hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars in pandemic relief, forgiven. But they are now attacking middle class Americans and stood for who the hell do they think they are?

He also claimed that when he took office the economy was "in ruins" and that former President Trump – whom he referred to as "my predecessor" – "actually lost more jobs and had fewer jobs when left than we he came in." 

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"Unemployment was at 6.4%. People were really hurt and hundreds of thousands of small businesses in your state and all across America, they had closed," he said, failing to mention that his party were the ones pushing for shutdowns during the pandemic. "Today, we're a much better place, although people are still hurting. We got more to do. But ten million jobs created since I take office, that's more than any time with help in your administration.

Biden's itinerary in the campaign's final days illustrates the limited political clout of a president who has been held at arm's length by some Democrats in tough races this cycle. 

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It also suggests that the president, whose approval ratings remain underwater, has concluded that he can be most effective using the waning days before polls close to shore up support for Democratic candidates in areas that he easily won in 2020.

This Associated Press contributed to this report.