The White House announced Sunday that President Biden will speak at three events during the week of the Republican National Convention, focusing on key themes and voting blocs in his quest for reelection.
The speaking engagements, which include a visit to the battleground state of Nevada, are the latest sign that Biden is moving full steam ahead as a growing number of Democrats call for him to step down as his party’s nominee in November.
“President Biden will continue to travel the country next week, discussing the incredible progress Americans have made over the past three and a half years, setting out his vision to ensure that America’s promise reaches every community, and making clear that we must resist attempts by Republicans in Congress to roll back our efforts,” a White House official said in a statement.
Biden is scheduled to speak on July 15 at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, to mark the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, a landmark law that banned discrimination on the basis of race, religion and sex.
The president’s speech comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Republicans will gather later in the week to outline a policy platform, deliver speeches and formally nominate former President Trump.
Biden is scheduled to speak at the 115th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas on July 16.
The president is scheduled to speak at the UnidosUS annual conference in Nevada on July 17, billed as one of the largest gatherings of Latinos and their allies in the country.
While all three speeches were official White House events, they directly relate to key themes in Biden’s campaign: Biden has been vocal in opposing Republican efforts to roll back fundamental rights in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and affirmative action, and the president and Vice President Harris have also courted the support of Black and Latino voters who put them in the White House in 2020.
The president has increased his travel schedule after a dismal performance in a debate in late June led some lawmakers to call for him to resign, fearing he would not be able to beat President Trump in a November debate.
Biden visited Wisconsin last week and was in Pennsylvania on Sunday – both key battleground states he needs to win to secure reelection. Over the next week, the president is scheduled to attend events at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.
But his more active schedule may not be enough to placate Democrats who worry he won’t be able to effectively make his case against Trump in the next four months and convince voters he can serve another four years in the job.
A Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll of battleground state voters released Saturday showed Biden leading Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin, and Trump leading Biden in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, all of which remain close races.
