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President Joe Biden touched down in Mountain View’s Moffett Field Air Base on Thursday around 8 p.m., greeting the press with a wave. He is set to attend fundraising events for his reelection in Portola Valley and Palo Alto on Friday.
Some Palo Alto schools say they plan to release students early around noon to prepare for traffic caused by the president’s visit.
En route, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated to reporters that the purpose of the trip was purely campaign-related.
Biden’s first fundraiser on Friday afternoon will be at tech entrepreneur Vinod Khosla’s home — who has given approximately $1.4 million to Democratic campaigns and organizations throughout this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. Tickets to the fundraiser range from $6,600 and $100,000.
Later in the afternoon, Biden is set to attend a Palo Alto reception hosted by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and her husband DCVC Co-founder Zack Bogue. Ticket prices range from $30,000 to $50,000.
From the Bay Area, he is then set to fly to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday evening.
The president last visited the Peninsula in February to attend a fundraising event in Los Altos Hills.
This is a non-partisan complaint. Once again we have an incumbent president visiting to raise funds. Fine. That’s the reality. But come on. If you’re going to come in to a major metro and cause significant disruption, you OWE people at least one public event. I don’t care if it is some sort of dedication or groundbreaking or simply a (no charge) political rally.
Can we get an update on the protest march from Town and Country to Addison School? What route are they taking? It could create traffic problems on Embarcadero, Channing and//or Homer.
Some outreach from the city on road and school closures would have been special since not all of us have kids at the Addison school and we shouldn’t have to find out details on NextDoor.
Also, I’d like to know how much it cost Palo Alto to put 2 cops at the barricades at every intersection near Addison to keep cars from driving near there and to keep pedestrians off the sidewalks.
Secret service isn’t protecting local interests and advance info is not their intent.
Every single time, we have traffic chaos. Doesn’t matter who is president, we get chaos. Next time, go somewhere else please.
Traffic chaos is inherent to the Palo Alto/Stanford area. Since local wealth is widespread, these hostings are in their interest, not yours or mine.
These fundraiser certainly aren’t for regular folks. Even by Palo Alto area standards.
I agree, two improvements would be a speech open to the public at Frost Amphitheatre (rings a bell?) and/or a more accessible fundraiser.
Billionaires have SUCH political influence in California.
Not even “millionaires” who are noted in angry tones by our President (i.e. people who own homes worth $3M like around here – get any input or access). Funny in a way.
It’s different in small states, where people can meet and speak with their U.S. Senators, for example.
By contrast, I have written emails to both of our current CA Senators with focused emails, no response, of course.
Nope. Frost is private land, which isn’t susceptible to public interests. Stanford is not likely to seek this scale of distraction during academic sessions. Each of these visits is to a municipality. Stanford is unincorporated. If Palo Alto or Portola Valley can’t cope, that’s on them.
Biden’s campaign pays for the basic costs of flying out here, which is far from the actual costs such as local police, his security detail, etc. Every President in recent memory has used this power of the office to campaign, as did Trump in his failed trips for reelection, which included the Bay Area.
If you live in a very high-profile city like Palo Alto, such events come with the territory. I will put up with the brief traffic problems and watch the heavy money donate to Biden at closed events because I believe that Trump’s election would be a disaster for our republic. Check out Project 2025 if you are displeased with Biden’s campaign visit to our city.