Ballina's Joe backs his cousin Biden's presidential bid

Joe Blewitt's van endorsing his cousin Joe Biden's presidential bid. Picture: Joe Blewitt on Twitter

A Ballina man has shown his family pride as he endorses his cousin’s efforts to become President of the United States of America.

Joe Blewitt, 41, had nothing but praise for his relative and namesake, Joe Biden, who is running against Donald Trump in the upcoming November elections.

Mr Blewitt, who operates a heating and plumbing business in Co Mayo, went as far as to add his work van to mix, using it as a canvass for a witty endorsement.

The sign, done locally in Ballina, reads “Joe Biden for the White House, and Joe Blewitt for your house.” 

The father-of-three explained how the idea came about.

“I was doing a job in Ballina one day, and I couldn’t find parking. So I went around to this man, who used to do sign-writing for me before,” said Mr Blewitt, who spoke with the writer, Barry Williams, about the possibility of getting some new work done on the van.

Little did Joe know that Barry was already plotting the presidential ploy.

“He said, ‘I have something for you, come into me now during the week’. And it was him who came up with the signage idea,” Mr Blewitt said.

Since then, pictures of the plumber’s van have spread like wildfire across social media.

“I only got it done over the weekend and it has been mad. The phone hasn’t stopped hopping all morning. I can’t get any of my bloody work done," said Mr Blewitt, who was in the midst of fitting a radiator when he took a call from the Irish Examiner.

The two Joes are well equated, with each visiting one and other in their home countries.

“We were over in the White House, visiting him before he finished up (as vice president). When Obama gave Joe the Medal of Freedom. He brought us over for that," the Ballina native said.

“We met him previously when he was home in Ireland. He came to Ballina and joined us for a meal in a local restaurant. It was lovely. He came back then again, without all the security and that was nicer. We had a bit of time to sit and chat with him. He is a lovely fella, a down to earth man, a family man."

Mr Blewitt encouraged anyone eligible to do so to vote for his American cousin.

“He’s a good politician, he knows what he’s doing. He’s not just starting up like some of them if you get what I am saying," the plumber said.

He also dismissed that the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

“I did for the craic more so than the business side. Business is booming so I don’t really need the extra work. It’s jam-packed at the moment, so I can’t complain.” 

The race between the former vice-president and the current president comes at a time of turmoil for the United States of America.

Clashes between police and protesters, racial violence and several shootings have dominated the headline across the Atlantic in recent weeks.

The chaos is added to further by the US’ high Covid-19 figures, which stands at over 6m cases and nearly 190,000 deaths.