First Lady Dr. Jill Biden touched down at Burbank Airport on Friday to make a withdrawal from the reelection campaign ATM known as Los Angeles’ wealthy Democratic families.
She and her daughter Ashley Biden arrived around 4:30 p.m. on a bright and breezy afternoon and were greeted on the tarmac by L.A.Mayor Karen Bass, Burbank Mayor Nick Shultz and his wife Allie Shultz, as well as L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis and her husband Sam Sayyad. The Bidens then headed directly to a campaign fundraiser at the private residence of Dr. Patricia Gordon in Hancock Park.
Also on the agenda during the First Lady’s four-day swing through the Southland, is a Saturday fundraiser in Rancho Mirage, anoher Saturday speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2024 Los Angeles Dinner and a Monday talk on the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
Around 50 people attended Friday evening’s reception, which host Patricia Gordon said raised over $1 million dollars for the Biden Victory Fund — more than any other fundraiser headlined by the First Lady.
“It’s amazing that you and your host committee have raised that amount of money,” said Biden. “I mean, honestly, it’s overwhelming. I cannot wait to get off the stage and then I can call Joe and tell him.”
During a 10-minute speech she reminisced on her early days of dating President Joe Biden, outlined his major accomplishments as president and impressed upon attendees the urgency of reelecting him in November.
“We have to meet this moment as if our rights are at stake because they are and as if our democracy is on the line because it is,” she said. “Joe is working tirelessly to defend our freedoms and our futures and our democracy, but he needs you to help him finish the job.”
She proudly touted his record in office including passing “the boldest climate change legislation in American history,” appointing Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and lowering prescription drug prices.
She said the world is in “tumultuous times” that require “the steadiness and the expertise of a tested, proven leader like my husband,” while referencing war in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Prior to the First Lady’s arrival, a group of protesters gathered outside the residence chanting “bring them home” and brandishing posters of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.
Biden also described the enduring threats facing America and said “MAGA Republicans are trying to drive us back to a dark and dangerous past, courts are stripping away our most basic freedoms, extremists are waging battles over our choices.”
She closed her speech by asking event attendees to reminisce on how they felt the morning after former President Donald Trump won the election in 2016 and use that as motivation to “work harder than ever before, to push farther than you have in the past, to dig deep and stay strong.”
“This election is going to take all of us and then together we will win,” she concluded as the crowd gave a standing ovation.
Both the First Lady and President have now visited Los Angeles three times since December 2023 to raise money for the reelection campaign.
The president’s last visit was a three-day California fundraising blitz from Feb. 20 to 23, when he also delivered a Culver City speech on his $1.2 billion package of student debt relief.
Meanwhile, the First Lady’s last Los Angeles trip was on Feb. 3, when she delivered a speech at gala championing Black brands and designers, while her husband attended a Bel Air campaign fundraiser.
Also in town this weekend is former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who is on the short list of vice presidential options for former President Donald Trump. Gabbard will be hosted by the L.A. GOP and speak about her decision to part ways with the Democratic Party and her upcoming book “For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind.”
Trump, for his part, has not visited Southern California since September 2023 when he attended the California GOP’s convention in Anaheim.
Biden’s campaign currently leads fundraising, collecting $53 million in February and ending the month with $155 million on hand. Trump’s campaign has collected $15.9 million in February and ending the month with $37 million on hand.
Source: Orange County Register
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