Part One: President Biden Launches Latinos For Biden and Celebrates the Benefits of the CHIPS Act for Arizona and the Country

In a two-day swing through the electoral swing area of Maricopa County, Arizona, President Biden helped launch Latinos for Biden at El Portal Mexican Food Restuarant and celebrated the benefits of the CHIPS Act for Arizona and the Country while visiting the Southern Chandler Intel Plant that has just been awarded 8.5 billion dollars to help develop the latest national security and commercial computer chips.

Mr. Biden, who became the first Democrat, to win Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996, came to Maricopa County, regarded as one of the seven crucial counties to prevail in the 2024 Presidential Election, in the Phoenix area and Chandler to garner support from the Latino Community and remind voters in the Grand Canyon State and across the country that his Invest in America Agenda is a huge benefit to the American People in contrast to the Trickle Down economic agenda of Mr. Trump and the MAGA-Republicans.

Launching Latinos for Biden at the El Portal Mexican Food Restuarant.

After landing late Tuesday afternoon at Sky Harbor Airport, President Biden and his entourage went to El Portal Mexican Food Restuarant to formally launch Latinos for Biden, a group designed to help mobilize turnout of the Latino vote this November.

Earlier in the day, Biden/Harris Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriquez (whom the President noted in his remarks at the restaurant was a granddaughter of the civil rights activist, Cesar) issued a statement on the forming of Latinos for Arizona, saying:

“The Latino vote was critical to the President’s victory in 2020, and 2024 will be no different. Latinos con Biden-Harris will be essential to activating and mobilizing Latinos across the country, and importantly, is another way we are making clear with action that we are investing aggressively into earning the Latino vote. Our community has deep roots in organizing, and we are excited to harness that skillset to fight for our families, our communities, and against Donald Trump’s anti-Latino agenda. There’s too much at stake in this election.”

In his comments to the gathered at El Portal, the President thanked the Latino Community, saying:

“You’re the huge reason, in large part, I beat Donald Trump. Let’s beat him again…I need you. I need you badly. Kamala and I desperately need your help because there’s only about six or seven states that are going to determine the outcome of this election. They’re toss-up states. This is one of them.”

The President then discussed how he fulfilled his campaign promise to make his Administration look like America, citing the contributions of Latino cabinet members including:

• Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra helping lower prescription drug costs.
• Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is helping to ease student debt.
• Isabella Casillas Guzman, the Small Business Administrator is helping small businesses grow.

Although not mentioned in his remarks, the President has also made it a mission to increase the number of Latino Judicial Appointments in his Administration.

Mr. Biden then remarked that during his Administration “we achieved the lowest unemployment rate for Latinos in a long long time. We cut Hispanic poverty to record lows. Lowered health care costs. We made historic investments in small businesses, and we addressed gun violence in the communities. “

He also said he was working more on helping Latino and Black Universities because they “have not had the endowments these other universities have. So the jobs of the future, the high-tech jobs. They don’t have the laboratories. They don’t have the ability to train. Every student is as competent as those going to Harvard or Yale or Stanford or anywhere else but they don’t have the means to train and that’s where the money is going primarily…to train them to be the engineers, the technicians, the people who are going to lead the technology of the future. “

Coming back to the 2024 election, Mr. Biden reminded the audience of Mr. Trump’s hateful comments about Latinos, relaying:

“This election is not a referendum on me. It’s an election between me and a guy named Trump and this is a guy…the way he talks about the Latino Community is…In 2016, he called Latinos, criminals, drug dealers, and rapists…Now he says immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country. What the hell is he talking about? …The reason we are as good as we are is because we are the most diverse country in the world…”

The President then returned to themes covered in portions of his stump speech including how Mr. Trump “wants to get rid of all the programs we put together from health care to education to small business. Social Security, he wants to cut…Folks, he only cares about the wealthy.”

He also related his humble background to the attendees saying, unlike his opponent, “I come from a household that is like maybe a lot of yours. We weren’t poor but we were I guess technically have from a financial standpoint, lower middle class.” Talked about his parents getting a house where they could build equity. He said they “never felt they were poor but we had to figure out how to get scholarships to go to school. We had to figure out how to pay (for his dad’s health care after he injured his neck.)..to make sure we had whatever we needed.”

From his life story, Mr. Biden explained why he was against the MAGA-Republican fixation on Trickle Down Economics, offering: “Nothing ever trickled down to my Dad’s table. When I got elected, I was going to build the country from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. That way everybody does well…It’s just starting to kick in… Trump wants another two trillion tax cut…His Administration caused the biggest deficit in American History in a four year period (largely with his first tax cut.)…He wants to make sure the biggest corporations continue to benefit…You ought to pay your fair share…”

The President said that his new budget proposals would make billionaires and corporations pay a higher tax rate. That would help access to increased child care and early education while also reducing the deficit.

Mr. Biden closed by saying:

“I’m optimistic. America has the capacity to do almost anything…We’re the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity…In every crisis we’ve ever gone through, we’ve come out stronger than when we went in. Let’s remember who we are. Nothing beyond our capacity when we work together and with you all, we’re going to work together and change the world here.”

The Biden Trip to Intel will be covered in part two and released later this afternoon.