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Jill Biden's swing through Southern California: Fundraisers, protesters and a stop at SoulCycle

Faith E. Pinho, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Political News

Biden continued her speech without acknowledging the disruption, repeating her oft-used anecdote about her first date with President Biden — then a senator from Delaware — who showed up to her door in a suit and loafers.

“And I thought, ‘Thank God, it’s only one date,’” she said to laughter from attendees. “Well, one date eventually turned into a marriage proposal.”

In a 15-minute speech, she touted the administration’s efforts to protect LGBTQ rights and warned, without naming former President Trump, that “the MAGA extremists are seeking to erase these hard-fought gains.”

“History teaches us that democracies don’t disappear overnight. They disappear slowly, subtly, silently. A book ban, a court decision, a ‘don’t say gay’ law,” she said. “One group of people loses their rights, and then another and then another. Until one morning you wake up and you no longer live in a democracy.”

The first lady began her weekend Friday evening in Hancock Park with a political fundraiser hosted by Dr. Patricia Gordon, a radiation oncologist and founder of a Beverly Hills nonprofit for the prevention of cervical cancer. She flew to Rancho Mirage on Saturday for another brief fundraiser, where she ticked off the administration’s work to curb climate change, decrease inflation and address conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Tickets to the invite-only event Saturday asked for donations from $1,000 to $100,000. The Biden campaign has raked in cash, reaching $155 million, according to latest campaign reports — far more than the Trump campaign, which held $36.6 million in cash at the end of January.

On Sunday morning, Biden and her Secret Service entourage caused a stir going into a SoulCycle, where the first lady cycled away in the back, behind rows of the Brentwood studio regulars.

Biden rounded out her visit to SoCal on Monday, joining actor Halle Berry onstage at the Getty Center before an audience of hundreds of Hollywood creators. The two chatted about women’s health, giving Biden an opportunity to tout the administration’s $12-billion investment in research.

 

“They told all of us, everybody, get on hormone therapy because this is going to help you and it prevents breast cancer,” she said. “And then like two years later, they were like, no, everybody get off hormone therapy, because now it’s supposed to cause breast cancer. So we were so confused.”

Biden said she went to her gynecologist for advice, but the doctor instead asked her what she’d like to do.

“And I said, what do you mean what would I like to do? You’re the doctor!” Biden said, as the audience laughed. “And, so that was my aha moment, because she had no answers. And that’s the problem — we don’t have answers.”

After her whirlwind SoCal tour, organizers Monday said, Biden headed back to Washington to teach her regular English class.

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(Times staff writer Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.)


©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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