President Biden will visit Philadelphia to deliver 'primetime speech' at Independence Hall, White House says

PHILADELPHIA - President Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia on Thursday to deliver a ‘primetime speech’ outside of Independence Hall, the White House announced on Monday. 

The speech will touch on the "continued battle for the Soul of the Nation," according to White House officials. 

Billed as a major address just over two months before the midterm elections, Biden, the White House said, will discuss how the nation's standing in the world and its democracy are at stake.

"He will talk about the progress we have made as a nation to protect our democracy, but how our rights and freedoms are still under attack," the White House said. "And he will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy."

Biden has increasingly sought to portray the November elections as a choice for voters between "ultra-MAGA Republicans" — a reference to former President Donald Trump’s "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan — and Democrats. He told supporters last week that they had "to vote to literally save democracy once again" — and labeled some Republican ideology as "semi-fascism."

The Associated Press contributed to this report