‘Good for Joe’: Scranton residents back Biden’s decision to quit race

The Central Scranton Expressway, the road which leads into Scranton from the I-81 highway, was renamed in 2021 as the President Joseph R Biden Jr Expressway.

The road drops down into the center of Scranton, the Pennsylvania city where the president was born, where it meets up with Biden Street - renamed in the same 2021 city council vote.

There is no indication yet that Scranton, a former coal and manufacturing hub home to about 80,000 people, intends to change its name to Bidenton, but the message here is clear: this is Joe Biden country.

"​​Let me start off with: we're very proud of Joe Biden. We love Joe Biden. The fact that he's a local guy, and all that," said James Ferguson, 81.

Ferguson was sitting with his brother, John Ferguson, 77, on a bench on Biden Street on Thursday afternoon. It was a blow for both when the president, who moved to Delaware from Scranton aged 10 but who speaks often of his Scranton upbringing, decided to drop out of the race in mid-July, but the fondness for Biden remains.

"I think Joe Biden showed the character that he is. He is a very good man, and he put the country first. It's not how good he is, or whether he is smart or not. It was perception. The perception was bad for Joe, and he knew it and he dropped out. Good for Joe," the elder Ferguson said.

But with Trump leading Biden in the polls and posing an existential threat to the US, there is an acceptance that Biden had to go.