President Joe Biden arrives in Santa Clara County today, where he is to announce a major environmental initiative in the late afternoon and kick off a big Silicon Valley fundraising campaign in the evening.
While Biden is at private fundraisers in Los Gatos and Atherton, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be raising money for his presidential campaign in a private event in nearby Woodside.
The Republican governor spoke at a fundraising brunch at posh Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento this morning. Across town Attorney General Rob Bonta was mulling whether to charge DeSantis with kidnapping for sending two planes of migrants from Texas to the California capital. At midday, Desantis was at a Fresno fundraiser before heading to the Bay Area tonight.
In Nevada on Saturday, DeSantis warned that California’s “leftist government is destroying that state,” and that “leftist governments were destroying cities all over our country.”
Aboard Air Force One, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the President also would mark today’s Juneteenth holiday as a way “to remember history, not erase it,” a not-so-veiled reference to steps being taken in Florida and Texas to downplay or remove Black history and slavery references from state textbooks.
Biden signed legislation two years ago making today a federal holiday, recognizing the June 19,1865 order officially freeing slaves after the end of the Civil War.
Air Force One was touched down at Moffett Field at 3:25pm, followed by an appearance at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve Monday in Palo Alto where Biden was to announce more than $600 million for climate adaptation projects as part of his “Investing in America” agenda. The President was to be joined by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Anna Eshoo and local officials.
In Atherton in the evening, Biden will be the guest of venture capitalist and former state controller Steve Westly, then in Los Gatos, a fundraising event will be hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, along with Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott, according to Reuters.
On Tuesday, a third fundraising reception will be held for Biden in Marin County by eight tech, climate and private equity entrepreneurs and investors. Newsom is expected to attend that event.
Last week, First Lady Jill Biden was in the area to raise money for the presidential campaign and speak about the need for gun control legislation.
Who hosted DeSantis in Woodside? Or are they keeping that a secret?