What do President Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have in common? Fundraisers in California
SACRAMENTO -- President Joe Biden touched down in California on Monday for a multi-day trip to fundraise for his re-election campaign and announce $600 million in federal support to reduce the impacts of climate change. Alongside President Biden was California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Mr. Biden arrived aboard Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View at around 12:30 p.m., greeted by California lawmakers as well as Gov. Newsom.
From there, President Biden toured coastal wetlands in Palo Alto and delivered remarks about creating jobs to tackle the climate crisis at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve.
At nearly the same time, Republican Presidential hopeful, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, hosted a fundraising event in Sacramento. Attendees at the event, like Assemblyman Joe Patterson (R-Rocklin), told CBS13 that DeSantis was asked about Newsom but didn't dwell on him or repeatedly bring him up.
Newsom was asked by reporters, alongside President Biden, about DeSantis' visit to California and he called DeSantis an "afterthought."
President Biden was asked by a reporter: "Mr. President, what do you think about Governor DeSantis being in Sacramento, the same place he sent migrants?"
President Biden: "It's hard to comment on things like that."
Biden was also scheduled to attend two campaign fundraisers in Los Gatos and Atherton.
Just how important is California to Biden's re-election fundraising? Take the 2020 campaign fundraising numbers as a baseline. In 2020, Californians contributed more than one-fifth of total fundraising efforts. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Californians gave the Biden Campaign $305,527,460, or 21.9%, of his contributions — the most of any state in the country.