SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) President Joe Biden made a nostalgic return to the house where he grew up in working-class Scranton on Tuesday, kicking off three days of campaigning across Pennsylvania by calling for higher taxes on the rich and casting Donald Trump as an out-of-touch elitist.

When the Democratic president wasnt trying to blunt the populist appeal of his Republican predecessors comeback bid, he appeared to savor his trip down memory lane. He lingered longer than expected at his childhood home, where an American flag waved softly in the wind on the front porch and neighbors crowded the sidewalk under flowering trees and a pale blue sky. The president later posed for photos with children, some wearing school uniforms, in the backyard.

Biden is looking to gain ground in a key battleground state while Trump spends much of the week in a New York City courtroom for his first criminal trial . Biden heads to Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Philadelphia on Thursday, but he started his travels in Scranton, which has long played a starring role in his political autobiography.

On Tuesday, the city of 75,000 provided a backdrop for Bidens efforts to reframe the conversation around the economy, which has left many Americans feeling sour about their financial situations at a time of stubborn inflation and elevated interest rates despite low unemployment.

The president said he wanted to make the tax code fairer, keeping more money in Americans pockets, while criticizing Trump, a billionaire himself, as a tool of wealthy interests.

When I look at the economy, I dont look at it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. I look at it through the eyes of Scranton, Biden said, contrasting his hometown with the Florida estate where Trump lives.

Biden has proposed a 25% percent minimum tax rate for billionaires. He added that taxes are how we invest in the country.

Scranton values or Mar-a-Lago values, Biden said. These are the competing visions for our economy that raise questions of fundamental fairness at the heart of this campaign. He spoke at a community center from a stage flanked by a banner reading Tax Fairness for All Americans.

The president said decades of Republicans policies that cut taxes for the wealthy with the idea of stimulating the economy failed America, and Donald Trump embodies that failure. He scoffed that Trumps background taught him little more than the best way to get rich is to inherit it, and he jabbed at the sharp fall in market value of the former presidents social media platform, Truth Social .

If Trumps stock in Truth Social, his company, drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his, Biden quipped.

Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee, blamed Biden for inflation in a statement about his trip.

Its no wonder why Pennsylvanians will vote to make America affordable again and elect President Trump in November, he said.

Near the end of Bidens speech, he sharply criticized Trump for reportedly calling veterans who died in combat suckers and losers. He said the comments, which Trump has denied, were disqualifying, adding, Thank God I wasnt standing next to him.

Later in the day, Biden spoke at a training session for grassroots organizers at a union hall, telling attendees: We have to win. It gets down to old-fashioned politics. It gets down to knocking on doors.

Throughout the multiple stops, there were paeans to Bidens roots in this town, where crowds lined the streets to cheer his motorcade. Trump flags were rare, and there was only a smattering of protests against Bidens support for Israels military operations in Gaza.