Will Biden’s working-class Pa. roots help him heal our divided nation? | Opinion

If you pass Scranton’s Courthouse Square on Adams Avenue, then merge onto Washington Avenue, you’ll eventually enter Green Ridge, a neighborhood seemingly preserved in 1950s-era America. “It’s a Norman Rockwell kind of scene,” Sarah Piccini, assistant director of the Lackawanna Historical Society, told me.

Stately residences line North Washington Avenue, where “Scranton Loves Joe” signs adorn lawns and an ornamental donkey — clearly a tribute to the Democratic Party — commands the front porch of a home. There isn’t any doubt about this section’s politics, where President-elect Joe Biden spent his early youth. “Where Biden grew up in Green Ridge, Irish-Catholic Democrat was one conjoined word,” said Austin Burke, former president of Scranton’s Chamber of Commerce. Even today, that tribal allegiance remains intact — especially with a native son about to ascend to the White House.

Biden will become president amid nightmarish conditions, including a pandemic, economic devastation, rising urban crime, and cultural upheaval. Matters only worsened when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, not long after President Donald Trump’s divisive rally. The nation’s chaotic state is the ultimate test for Biden, who, for decades, has presented himself as a loyal Democrat but also a unifying, centrist figure.

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Biden’s persona is doubtless shaped by his Scranton roots, which he proudly referenced even before 2020. It’s important to understand how Biden is a product of the Electric City, where politics remains something of a local industry. “Biden has been shaped for years as a creature of Washington, but before that he was a creature of Scranton,” said Christopher Borick, a native of nearby Throop and director of Muhlenberg College’s Institute of Public Opinion.

Though Biden lived in Scranton only until age 10, the city’s past is encoded in his DNA. Tim Hinton, a Scranton attorney and distant relative, noted that the president-elect has “deep, widespread roots [among] very prominent people who did a lot to shape Scranton.”

Indeed, Biden’s great-grandfather Edward Blewitt, an Irish-Catholic Democrat, was a state senator (1907-10) and helped found what became the local Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. When Blewitt died in 1926, the Scranton Republican recognized the Green Ridge resident’s decades in politics. Blewitt “made friends easily and had the faculty of keeping them.” This also applied to the opposing political party. “Although a Democrat,” the paper noted, “Blewitt became a warm personal friend” of Boies Penrose, the powerful Philadelphia Republican.

Scranton’s Irish-Catholic Democratic culture only intensified after Blewitt’s death. “The Irish always controlled the city,” noted Michael DeMichele, a retired University of Scranton historian. Biden was born into this world in 1942. At that point, the Irish dominated Green Ridge, where Biden’s family lived with his maternal grandparents in a three-story home. Even then, Green Ridge was a dramatic contrast from Scranton’s West Side or Minooka, working-class Irish strongholds. “Green Ridge was always seen as the way up,” said Borick. “And as an Irish Catholic, being a lawyer or a politician was a vocation and path forward.” Sen. Bob Casey, along with his late father, former Gov. Bob Casey Sr., followed that path.

By St. Patrick’s Day, 1973, Biden was America’s youngest U.S. senator when he spoke at the Friendly Sons’ annual dinner. Among the attendees was Eugene Peters, Scranton’s Republican mayor from 1970 to 1978, who vividly recalled Biden’s remarks. “I said he could be president someday,” said Peters. Now, almost 48 years later, Biden will fulfill that role.

Today, in northeastern Pennsylvania, Democrats no longer wield the influence they enjoyed during Biden’s youth. In fact, though Scranton remains Democratic, the region became more competitive during the Trump era. In 2016, Donald Trump lost Lackawanna by about 3,500 votes to Hillary Clinton, whose father was from Scranton. In 2020, Biden won Lackawanna by nearly 10,000 votes. “If you had told me years ago that Biden …was running for president, I would think he’d get 80% of the vote in Lackawanna,” noted Borick.

Republicans continue to make voter-registration gains. According to Lance Stange, Lackawanna’s GOP chairman, by Election Day, the county’s Republican Party grew by 11% since 2016, while Democrats had decreased by about 6%. “Republicans have gained ground in approximately 75% of Lackawanna County’s municipalities, including Scranton,” said Stange. “The Democrats are really only growing in the wealthiest areas of Lackawanna County.”

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For now, Green Ridge remains frozen in time. Last Friday afternoon, a trio of children ascended a hill off Washington Avenue to Hank’s Hoagies, a luncheonette where a cutout figure of Biden greets customers. A few blocks away, a St. Bernard rested on a porch as people walked by. The neighborhood was calm, even idyllic, and a parallel universe compared with the national state of affairs.

It remains to be seen how Biden — a native of this culture — can serve as a calming force during this dark time, which is partly fueled by extremist forces in both political parties. “I feel very confident about Biden,” said Peters. “I tried to serve all the people — that’s my philosophy in government — and I believe Biden will have a similar approach.”

Charles F. McElwee is managing editor of the Commonwealth Foundation. He is the 2020-21 John Farley Memorial Fellow, part of The Fund for American Studies’ Robert Novak Journalism Program. He edits RealClear’s Public Affairs page on Pennsylvania. @CFMcElwee. A version of this piece first appeared in RealClearPolitics.