Biden touts investment in rural areas in Minnesota, the home state of his primary challenger
President Joe Biden speaks at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minn., Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
President Joe Biden talks with guests after speaking at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minn., Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
President Joe Biden walks onto stage to speak at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minn., Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks about government regulations on artificial intelligence systems during an event in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, in Washington.
With the New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan at his side, Dean Phillips signed a declaration of candidacy to run for the New Hampshire presidential primary Friday, Oct. 27, 2023 Concord, Minn.
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden visited a family-run farm in Minnesota on Wednesday and held a fundraiser featuring many of the state鈥檚 top Democrats, championing his administration鈥檚 investments in rural America while flexing political muscle on the home turf of his new 2024 primary challenger, Rep. Dean Phillips.
The president announced more than $5 billion in spending, largely in rural areas. It will go toward better adapting agriculture to climate change, as well as expanding high-speed internet access and improving local infrastructure. The funding comes from infrastructure and inflation reduction laws which Biden helped champion through Congress.
鈥淚nstead of exporting jobs overseas for cheaper labor, now we鈥檙e creating jobs here and expanding American products and selling them overseas,鈥 Biden told a cheering crowd inside a barn at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not only transforming rural communities, we鈥檙e transforming our economy.鈥
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack accompanied Biden on the trip and is among top members of the president鈥檚 Cabinet who will spend this week and next traveling to various states, promoting administration investments. Vilsack called Wednesday鈥檚 announcement 鈥渁n exciting opportunity to celebrate the importance of rural America鈥 while Biden says his effort is 鈥渁bout investing in rural America鈥 but also 鈥渞estoring pride in rural communities that had been left behind for far too long.鈥
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the Minnesota swing was planned before Phillips announced his candidacy last week 鈥渁nd has no relationship鈥 to the president鈥檚 challenger. But the congressman is the only elected Democrat to campaign against him for the White House.
Phillips, 54, is a moderate from the largely well-to-do, comfortably Democratic Minneapolis suburbs. He has been saying since last year that Biden shouldn鈥檛 be seeking reelection and should instead step aside to make way for a new generation. He points to polls showing voters, even many Democrats, concerned about the 80-year-old president鈥檚 age and electability against Donald Trump, the former president and Republican front-runner.
Biden鈥檚 trip, coming so soon after Phillips鈥 announcement, could allow the president to limit any potential support for his nascent primary challenger. Guests to the fundraiser, which followed the farm visit, included many top Minnesota Democrats and Gov. Tim Walz.
Phillips鈥 campaign will feel 鈥渁lmost like a cold glass of water being thrown in his face,鈥 said Ken Martin, chair of Minnesota Democrats and a Democratic National Committee vice chair.
Martin is a friend of Phillips and recruited him to run for his House seat. But if Phillips believes that people are clamoring for alternatives to Biden, Martin said, 鈥渉e may be alone in that thinking amongst Democratic Party leaders.鈥
鈥淭here really does not seem to be as much of an opening here, as much as he might want, or think there is, or should be,鈥 he said. Martin also addressed the fundraiser, calling it one of the largest events of its kind for an incumbent president in Minnesota history.
Walz has been even more full-throated in his defense of Biden, releasing a fundraising email Friday on Biden鈥檚 behalf before Phillips even formally got into the race titled 鈥淢innesotans Love Joe Biden.鈥
鈥淚 have to say this about Minnesota: it鈥檚 a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things,鈥 Walz wrote, such as making 鈥減olitical sideshows for themselves.鈥
As the trip unfolded, the White House has faced skepticism from some Muslim Americans for its staunch support of Israel鈥檚 military assault on Hamas in Gaza. Protesters gathered near the airport where Biden landed and later, more than 1,000 people marched through downtown Minneapolis, across the river from Biden鈥檚 fundraiser. They carried Palestinian flags and signs that said 鈥淪top Bombing Children,鈥 鈥淔ree Palestine鈥 and 鈥淐easefire now.鈥
The demonstrations couldn鈥檛 be seen from the president鈥檚 motorcade, but the use of bullhorns was heard outside the site. During his remarks at the fundraiser, Biden called for a humanitarian 鈥減ause鈥 in the Israel-Hamas war long enough to get 鈥減risoners鈥 out.
Phillips, meanwhile, has faced criticism from some prominent Black Democrats for focusing his early campaign on New Hampshire, which is overwhelmingly white, in defiance of the new, Biden-championed 2024 Democratic primary calendar that has South Carolina going first. The move is meant to better empower Black and minority voters 鈥 but Biden also did far better as a 2020 Democratic primary candidate in South Carolina, which he won handily, than New Hampshire, where he finished fifth.
鈥淎ny serious Democratic candidate would understand that Black voters are the backbone of the Democratic Party,鈥 said Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. He said Phillips鈥 White House run is 鈥渄isrespectful to the voters of color.鈥
New Hampshire鈥檚 primary, which officials are planning to hold in January ahead of South Carolina鈥檚 on Feb. 3, is unsanctioned by the Democratic National Committee. Biden won鈥檛 appear on its ballot but every New Hampshire state senator and other party leaders are leading a write-in campaign on the president鈥檚 behalf.
Phillips missed Biden鈥檚 visit to his home turf, noting in a statement that he was holding 鈥渕y first town hall in New Hampshire 鈥 which is celebrating its 103rd anniversary of hosting America鈥檚 first in the nation presidential primary.鈥
He also questioned the visit being preplanned, calling it 鈥渓ast minute鈥 while also saying he was grateful to Biden for using the trip to 鈥渄iscuss the urgent issues affecting everyday Americans.鈥
Minnesota hasn鈥檛 backed a Republican for president since Richard Nixon in 1972. Trump narrowly lost the state to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and talked before the 2020 election of flipping the state before ultimately failing to do so. Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher said Biden will need to shore up Minnesota support for 2024, likening it to a swing state the president has visited more than any other, Pennsylvania.
鈥淚t is not a diehard, reliable blue state,鈥 Belcher said. He noted Minnesota is part of the midwestern blue wall that includes Michigan and Wisconsin, and Biden 鈥渄oes not stand a chance if that blue wall does not stand.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen that blue wall, in past elections, be shaky,鈥 Belcher said.
Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who worked with Phillips as a member of the centrist House Problem Solvers Caucus and other legislative endeavors, said she has 鈥渁n enormous amount of respect for Dean鈥 but 鈥淚 feel as though his likely platform would be very similar to the platform that he has voted for largely, which is President Biden鈥檚 agenda and legislative accomplishments.鈥
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see a real differentiation,鈥 Houlahan said. She also called Phillips a 鈥渄istraction鈥 at a time when Democrats should be backing Biden 鈥渋n a unified manner to allow him, and us, to complete work that we鈥檝e all started together.鈥
Associated Press writer Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis contributed to this report.