| Advertisement |
June 19 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will travel to California's Bay Area Monday for separate campaign stops as the 2024 candidates ramped up fundraising efforts in the Golden State. The candidates will attend simultaneous campaign events only a stone's throw from each other, vying for public dollars on the same turf as a June 30 deadline approached to report campaign donations for the second quarter.
Advertisement
Biden will arrive aboard Air Force One at 12:25 p.m. PDT at Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara County, kicking off a three-day visit to the Bay Area in which the president was eager to take a victory lap for his administrative successes on climate and manufacturing.
About an hour after landing, Biden will visit the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto to announce $600 million in climate investments as part of ongoing government efforts to address climate change.
Later in the day, the president will attend a private campaign reception in Los Gatos, followed by a private fundraiser in Atherton that will be hosted by millionaire investor Steve Westly and his wife, Anita Yu, where the cheapest ticket to get in is priced at $6,600.
DeSantis, meanwhile, will visit the state capitol before heading to Woodside for his own fundraiser at roughly the same time Biden is holding his event.
On Tuesday night, Biden will attend a technology and climate fundraiser in Marin County alongside California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has gotten into a heated feud with DeSantis over the airwaves in recent weeks.
Newsom's PAC has also taken aim at the Florida governor, calling him the single biggest threat to Democratic principles in the country.
DeSantis' visit also comes amid fresh tensions as California officials are investigating after dozens of migrants were shipped unannounced from the Texas border to Sacramento earlier this month while reportedly carrying immigration papers from Florida.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta was working to determine who paid the travel expenses and whether the migrants had been misled, or if laws like kidnapping had been violated, in which case DeSantis, his administration and other private entities could face civil or criminal penalties.
The public enmity between Newsom and DeSantis, meanwhile, ratcheted up again last week during an episode of Sean Hannity's Fox News show, where Newsom defended Biden's immigration policies while challenging DeSantis to a debate.
Back in Florida, when asked about Newsom's remarks, DeSantis called for the California governor to "throw your hat in the ring."
"Are you going to get in and do it, or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and chirp?" DeSantis said Thursday, but Newsom had already demonstrated his full support for the incumbent by organizing several fundraisers.
DeSantis will attend a private breakfast fundraiser in Sacramento which reportedly costs $3,300 per person.
