Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have now visited Sheetz convenience stores in Pennsylvania during their respective 2024 presidential campaigns, with the vice president stopping at one Pittsburgh location on Sunday.
Not mentioned in either campaign appearance was the lawsuit brought by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) against Sheetz Inc., which claims the company discriminated against minority groups in its hiring process, which excludes convicted criminals when selecting candidates.
Based in Virginia, but now boasting locations in a total of six states including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice claimed on April 18 that Sheetz violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but stopped short of directly alleging it imposed its hiring policy based on race.
A DOJ spokesman claimed the hiring practice results in “a disparate impact because of race or other classifications,” and said that Sheetz must prove its policy is “necessary to ensure the safe and efficient performance of particular jobs at issue,” but even then, the practice would remain “unlawful if there is an alternative practice available” that would accomplish the goals of the convenience store.
Just days prior to the DOJ action in April, Biden visited a Sheetz location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania while on the campaign trail.
Biden visit a Sheetz gas station in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania pic.twitter.com/x0ba0UQHFJ
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) April 17, 2024
Harris visited another Sheetz location during a Sunday trip to Pennsylvania that was reportedly “tightly controlled” by her presidential campaign. Her visit occurred less than one month after Biden dropped out of the race and Harris became the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
A witness told Fox News that the Harris campaign’s trip to Pennsylvania involved two buses branded with the Harris-Walz campaign logo and “a white bus with no decal.” The witness complained that the campaign asked patrons of a Pittsburgh restaurant to leave so Harris-Walz staff could replace them.
After Harris and Governor Tim Walz visited the Sheetz location, social media pundits accused the campaign of scripting the interaction between the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
NEW: The Harris campaign appears to have been caught scripting two different Doritos handoffs to Kamala Harris at a Pennsylvania, Sheetz.
The first one was her husband “finding” Doritos.
The second handoff was Tim Walz, “finding” another bag of Doritos that he handed to the… pic.twitter.com/zguAh0zxrC
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 19, 2024
Republican lobbyist David Urban called Harris’ visit to Sheetz embarrassing. In a post to social media, Urban wrote that Harris apparently “forgot that the #BidenHarrisAdministration is SUING [Sheetz] for requiring criminal background checks of their employees when she visited for some snacks yesterday.”
Former President Donald Trump continues to lead Harris in the RealClearPolling aggregate of data, which shows the former president winning the Keystone State by less than 1 percent.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sheetz Store” by Sheetz.
