President Joe Biden was heckled on Friday as he praised the Republican governor of Alabama for urging vaccinations against COVID-19.
Biden returned to the campaign trail in Northern Virginia to tout Terry McAuliffe's bid for a second term in the governor's mansion.
He began by praising Virginia's vaccination rate, which he said is higher than the national average, and thanked the current Democrat governor, Ralph Northam, who cannot run for another term in November.
'Here's the truth. If you are fully vaccinated, you are safer and with a higher degree of protection,' said Biden.
Joe Biden's return to the campaign trail on Friday night was almost immediately interrupted by hecklers, who reacted when he spoke about Alabama's Republican governor, and her urging of the state's residents to get vaccinated
Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of the president's, is running for election as governor of Virginia. On Friday night (pictured) he campaigned at Lubber Run park in Arlington
'What we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
'A lot of our conservative friends have had a second thought. They've seen the Lord.'
He added: 'Thank God the governor of Alabama spoke today.'
He was then interrupted by hecklers, but declared: 'This is not a Trump rally, let him holler.'
As Biden makes his return, Democrats are doubling down on his presidency, making it the centerpiece of their 2022 midterm strategy.
Looming over their efforts is the shadow of Donald Trump, who is already inserting himself into the next rounds of Republican primaries.
With control of Congress at stake, along with Biden's ability to pass his legislative agenda, Democrats have invested heavily in Joe, establishing party embeds in some of the major battle ground states as part of the coordination effort with the White House.
That coordination includes a united messaging strategy, specifically promoting Biden's legislation agenda, including the Child Tax Credit and his American Rescue Plan. Last week the three Democratic campaign committees released a rare joint ad touting the Child Tax Credit and its benefits on the middle class.
The economy will be a key talking point.
A White House official told DailyMail.com the focus is on 'the strength of our agenda, and the impact that it is already having – through things like the Child Tax Credit – and will have through more jobs, tax cuts, and lower costs for working families.'
Biden was be in Arlington, Va., on Friday night, for McAuliffe's campaign - his first candidate-specific stop as president.
The Virginia race, along with New Jersey's off-year gubernatorial contest, is seen as a bellwether how the party will do in the 2022 midterms.
President Biden returned to the campaign trail on Friday evening as Democrats double down on his presidency heading into the midterm elections
President Biden campaigned for Terry McAuliffe, who is running for Virginia governor; above McAuliffe and Biden campaigned together in Virginia during the 2020 presidential contest
Polls show the Virginia race is tight with Republican Glenn Youngkin narrowly trailing McAuliffe. A JMS Analytics survey released last month showed McAuliffe leading Youngkin 46% to 42%, within the poll’s 4.2-point margin of error.
McAuliffe, a former head of the Democratic Party, is close to Biden and campaigned for him in the 2020 election. The Democratic National Committee is also investing $5 million into this race, the committee announced this week.
Youngkin's campaign is using McAuliffe's strong ties to prominent Democrats to portray him as a Washington insider.
'Terry McAuliffe must be worried about his terrible poll numbers if he’s already calling in political favors this early in the campaign. We expect he’ll bring his mentors Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton here soon too, just like he did the first two times he ran for governor,' Younkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement.
And while Friday marks Biden's official return to the campaign trail, a soft sell of endangered Democrats have been in the works for weeks by the White House.
When Biden was in Illinois earlier this month, Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood, a top GOP target next year, was at his side. And when he went to Wisconsin, he had endangered Democratic Rep. Ron Kind with him.
And when Jill Biden visited a COVID clinic in Georgia this month, Sen. Raphael Warnock, the most endangered Democratic senator, was touring it with her. And when the first lady went to New Hampshire for a July 4th barbeque, vulnerable Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan joined her for the celebration.
'The President's time is one of the most valuable commodities that a White House has,' the White House
