As Republican presidential candidates embarked on their final day of campaigning in Iowa, where they braved freezing temperatures, President Joe Biden on Monday chose to spend the day volunteering at Philabundance, a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia, to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and the National Day of Service.
This is the president’s third year volunteering at Philabundance, where he was packing produce.
President Biden’s trip to Philadelphia coincides with the Republican Iowa caucuses, which mark the first major contest in the party’s nomination process. Going into the first GOP caucus, former President Donald Trump currently held a substantial lead in the polls, outpacing his rivals Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Around 7:35 p.m. CT, just half an hour after caucus meetings started, news outlets reported that based on an early but commanding lead, projections showed that President Trump was set to win the Iowa caucuses.
In a radio interview with Rev. Al Sharpton, President Biden claimed that former President Donald Trump’s “anti-democratic” statements had an impact on his decision to run for reelection. The president expressed alarm over his predecessor’s comments, calling him the “most anti-democratic” president in U.S. history.
“The things that Trump is saying, Trump is saying things that are just off the wall,” he said.” And he means them. He’s talking about how he’s running to get revenge on people.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris marked MLK Day in South Carolina by delivering a speech in which she warned that freedom in America is under “profound threat.”
Ms. Harris headlined the NAACP’s annual event, which featured a prayer session and a march to the South Carolina House of Representatives in Columbia.
During her speech, she used Dr. King’s legacy to urge black voters to support Democrats in the 2024 election.
“Freedom is never truly won. You earn it and win it in every generation,” she said, echoing the words of King’s late widow, Coretta Scott King.
She urged voters to roll up their sleeves, saying, “We were born for a time such as this.”
“We will fight,” Ms. Harris said. “And when we fight, we win.”
President Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised more than $97 million for his reelection campaign during the fourth quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, the Biden campaign announced on Monday.
This was much higher than the Biden campaign’s third-quarter fundraising of more than $71 million, showing that donors are willing to stand behind the president despite his low approval ratings, concerns about his age, and his management of the economy, border crisis, and global conflicts.
Democrats had $117 million in cash on hand as of the end of last month, the highest amount ever by a Democrat at this stage of an election cycle, the Biden campaign stated.
“Team Biden-Harris’ Q4 haul was driven in large part by the strength of our grassroots support, which continued to grow in Q4,” the Biden campaign said in a statement.
“While most of the Republicans have not yet announced their fundraising numbers, we fully expect to lap them,” said senior adviser for communications T.J. Ducklo. “Several times.”
Since launching his reelection campaign in April, President Biden has raised $235 million from nearly a million donors.
President Trump has not yet released his fourth-quarter campaign fundraising totals but he did raise $45.5 million in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Ms. Haley raised $24 million in the fourth quarter, according to her campaign.
