President Joe Biden is spending two days in Texas Wednesday and Thursday to participate in three private fundraising events in Dallas and Houston ahead of this November's election.
Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee and will face presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump this fall in a rematch of the 2020 election.
Air Force One landed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. A motorcade transported the President to two North Texas campaign receptions that night.
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According to our partners at The Dallas Morning News, one of Biden’s Dallas events was hosted by trial lawyer Russell Budd, Dallas lawyer Regina Montoya, and others. The paper reported the second event was hosted by Dallas businessman Kneeland Youngblood, according to people familiar with the event who requested they not be identified.
Biden spent about an hour at each reception. He raised $2.5 million at the first event.
The president was met by pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the second event hosted in Preston Hollow by Youngblood.
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The president had no planned public appearances during his visit to North Texas.
Before dawn Thursday, more than 50 protesters from PYM Dallas and other organizations gathered outside Biden’s hotel in downtown Dallas to demand a ceasefire.
At about 10:40 a.m. Thursday, Air Force One departed DFW Airport for Houston where the president was expected to attend another fundraiser.
According to a report by The Associated Press, before the visit to Texas Biden’s campaign had amassed $155 million in cash for the 2024 election, far exceeding Trump's in-hand total.
Ahead of his travel to Texas Wednesday, NBC News reported Biden was in Arizona where he announced an agreement to provide Intel with up to $8.5 billion in direct funding and $11 billion in loans for computer chip plants in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico and Oregon. Intel’s projects would be funded in part through the bipartisan 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which the Biden administration helped shepherd through Congress.
