“Joe! Joe!”: President Biden arrives to cheers at Moffett Field as California flexes political clout

A small crowd of onlookers erupted in applause, screaming out “Joe! Joe!” as President Joe Biden stepped off of Air Force One and onto the tarmac at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View on Tuesday afternoon. Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Susan Ellenberg, dressed in a gold satin pantsuit, and David Korsmeyer, the deputy center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center, shook hands with the president in front of his motorcade, chatting with him for several minutes before Biden headed over to greet the crowd. The octogenarian president showed no sign of his age as he broke into a jog, kicking off another ovation of cheers on the tarmac.

Biden spent a few moments chatting with a young girl before taking someone’s phone and snapping a selfie with them. He rounded out his short visit with more handshakes and even a hug. The president, who is in the Bay Area for his third visit of the year, then departed for Atherton to attend a fundraiser hosted by Peninsula-based philanthropists Mark Heising and Liz Simons.

Biden was flying in from Wayne County, Mich. where he joined United Auto Workers on the 12th day of their strike against major car manufacturers — a move that labor experts said might be the . Air Force One’s touchdown at Moffett at 3:17 p.

m. marked the start of a whirlwind week where California is thrust into the spotlight on the national political stage, with both Biden and Republican presidential candidates vying for votes and campaign cash. Immediately after his arrival, the president departed for Atherton to attend a fundraiser hosted by Peninsula-based philanthropists Mark Heising and Liz Simons.

The sold-out event, which was organized by the Biden Victory Fund, was selling tickets priced between $5,000 and $100,000. On Wednesday, Biden is expected to meet with the President’s Council on Advisors on Science and Technology. The 30-member group is comprised of professors, scientists, CEOs and tech experts, and works to advise the president on policy issues where an “understanding of science, technology and innovation is key.

” While Biden most likely won’t be fighting to sway more potential voters during his two-day visit to the highly blue state, San Jose State Political Science Professor Melinda Jackson said his quick sojourn is about the dollars and cents. “We have a lot of wealthy donors that live in this area,” she said. “It’s one of the most politically progressive regions of the country.

The irony is that because California is not a battleground state, we don’t get a lot of attention. It’s really about the money, and that money is then used in campaigning in the state’s where it’s going to be decided. ” As the 46th president leaves the state tomorrow, seven of his Republican challengers — including former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov.

Ron DeSantis — will be set to take the stage for the second GOP debate Wednesday evening, several hundred miles south at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Former President Donald Trump has decided to skip the debate in lieu of meeting with United Auto Workers in Michigan. Trump, however, will be in attendance at the California Republican Party’s fall convention later this week in Orange County.

Trump, DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will all be hosting events at the conference, which runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.

While California hasn’t thrown its electoral votes behind a Republican presidential candidate since 1988, when voters picked former President George H. W. Bush over former Massachusetts Gov.

Michael Dukakis, GOP hopefuls still make campaign stops in the Democrat-dominated state. “Both parties go where the money is,” Jackson said. “Even though the Republican party has really diminished in terms of their numbers in California and their influence at the state level, we do still have very wealthy individuals on both sides that have the money to donate to their parties.

” DeSantis, who has poised himself as one of Trump’s biggest Republican presidential competitors, is also expected to host a brunch with agricultural leaders in Salinas on Thursday. The Florida governor has been locked in an ongoing culture war battle with the Golden State and California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the two state’s vastly differing political ideologies.

After months of jarring online and in the press, it was announced on Monday that DeSantis and Newsom would finally face off in person at a November debate hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity. .