Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania has become one of the central battlegrounds in the race to the White House, as the former Vice President casts the race as "Scranton versus Park Avenue." This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.
Nestled in a suburban block in Scranton, Pennsylvania, this is the home Democratic nominee Joe Biden grew up in.
Chris Kearns family bought the home from the Bidens in 1953 after the Bidens fell on hard times and moved to Delaware, a story the former vice president often recounts.
"Joe talks about the story of his father coming home to this house, coming up the steps and telling him about losing his job.
So when you've gone through that as a life experience, there's no other way to understand the people who are going through that now." The rust belt town Biden grew up in has become a symbol this election season with the former Vice President pushing the message that the race is between 'Scranton' Joe Biden and 'Park Avenue' Donald Trump, casting the choice between the two candidates as a clash between between elites and everyday Americans.
But the working class town in the battleground state of Pennsylvania is also meaningful for President Donald Trump, who's hoping to make deep inroads with blue collar workers who defected from Democrats to vote for Trump in 2016.
But with his reelection just weeks away, Trump trails in the polls in the area.
And for many locals - like Ashley Levandowski - it's Biden who connects best.
"He's from here, so he knows.
We're out of a lot of money.
That's something, you know, he could help with funding.
He knows what towns like this and other towns similar need." Back at Biden's childhood home, Anne Kearns - the family matriarch - recalls the many times the Democratic nominee has come by to visit.
"He's been here now, I think about 11, 12 times.
But their first stay told me what he was like." Kearns says during that first visit, Biden took good care of his 91-year-old mother.
"When he was even speaking out there, she was in a white lawn chair that we had.
He had his arms around his mother.
Those two boys, the two of them, took such wonderful care of their mother.
And what came to me right away was when I was dating boys, I remember my father saying to me, 'always look at how they take care of their mother.
That'll tell you everything." Biden last visited the Kearns this summer, while campaigning in Scranton.
The former VP kept his distance and said hopefully next time he'd be back without a face mask.
The current owners of Joe Biden's childhood home, the Kearns, say the former VP has never left Scranton behind as he seeks the..
