PALO ALTO, Calif. — President Joe Biden visited the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto on Monday to promote his environmental policies and kick off a three-day trip to the Golden State that also includes private fundraisers for his re-election campaign.
The president’s trip coincides with a California fundraising visit by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the top candidates seeking the GOP nomination for the presidency, who attended a breakfast roundtable fundraiser at a Sacramento country club before heading to the Bay Area for a private fundraiser in Woodside.
Biden flew into Moffett Federal Airfield at 12:15 p.m. where he was met by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Anna Eshoo, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Susan Ellenberg and NASA Center Director Eugene Tu.
After briefly speaking on the tarmac with Newsom and the other greeters, Biden departed for the Palo Alto Baylands nature preserve, where he delivered remarks on his administration’s environmental and energy policies, including more than $600 million in funding for climate adaptation projects across the country.
“What we’re seeing here is an amazing success story of how we can work together to make our communities more climate resilient,” Biden told reporters and supporters at the nature preserve on a windy afternoon along the bayshore.
“These wetlands act as a critical buffer between the rising tides and the communities at risk protecting homes and property and infrastructure against flooding,” Biden said. “They also absorb carbon dioxide from the air.”
Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the preserve, which sits on what was once a landfill, is an example of the type of community-driven climate solutions that the federal government is investing in to harness nature in an effort to counter effects of a warming climate.
The Baylands Nature Preserve is a 1,940-acre system of marshes on San Francisco Bay’s shoreline. It is owned by the city of Palo Alto and is a well-known birdwatching area. The interpretive center that Biden visited is named for Lucy Evans, a Palo Alto school teacher who advocated tirelessly for the protection of San Francisco Bay’s wetlands until her death in 1978.
The president then traveled to fundraisers in Los Gatos at 3 p.m. and Atherton at 6:15 p.m.
DeSantis was in Sacramento for a $3,300-a-head breakfast fundraiser at the Del Paso Country Club hosted by real estate developer Steve Eggert and his wife.
KCRA Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala reported Monday that DeSantis entered the club through a back entrance, avoiding reporters who had gathered at the front gate. He left the same way in a procession of vehicles without addressing reporters and headed to the Bay Area, where he was expected to attend a fundraiser in Woodside hosted by real estate developer John Hamilton.
Asked thoughts on DeSantis’ visit to Woodside, Monica Pluemer, a marketing consultant from San Francisco, said “it’s good for people to be exposed to different political viewpoints.”
But Kevin Menendez of Redwood City didn’t approve of the Florida governor’s stance on LGBTQ and immigrant issues.
“I don’t like the guy,” Menendez said. “I don’t know why he’s here of all places.”
Earlier this month, DeSantis flew three dozen migrant border crossers to Sacramento in a gesture meant to criticize California’s immigration “sanctuary” policy of refusing cooperation with federal immigration law.
That prompted Newsom to suggest the Florida governor is a kidnapper and Attorney General Rob Bonta to launch an investigation. Asked by reporters Monday about DeSantis coming to California, Newsom called DeSantis “an afterthought,” while Biden said “it’s hard to comment on things like that.”
In Los Gatos, Biden attended a fundraiser hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott and his wife Shannon Hunt-Scott at an undisclosed location.
The Atherton fundraiser is being hosted by venture capitalist and former state controller Steve Westly and his wife, Anita Yu at their home, according to an emailed invitation acquired by the Bay Area News Group. Guests are asked to pay $6,600 to attend.
A group of five women waved American flags on Los Gatos’ Cypress Way waiting to catch a glimpse of Biden as Bentleys and BMW’s drove up the road toward the private neighborhood where the fundraiser is located.
“We all support Joe, so we all want to come show him some support from our little town,” said Tina Giusto, a longtime Los Gatos resident. “It’s an honor to have the president in Los Gatos.”
“It’s not every day the president drives past your house,” added Los Gatos resident Lola Feldman.
Biden in Palo Alto announced $642 million on Monday in federal funding for climate programs. Of that, $67 million will be coming from the U.S. Department of Energy to help California upgrade its power grid to better deal with heat waves and risk from wildfires.
The other $575 million, which the White House on Monday called the “Climate Resilience Regional Challenge,” is funding that was already approved by Congress last year as part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping package that included everything from requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices to beefing up IRS enforcement of tax evasion to expanded subsidies for solar, wind and other renewable power.
The $575 million will go into a new federal program that cities, states and other entities across the nation will apply for to receive grant money to help pay the costs of “climate resilience” — such as programs that help reduce flood risk from sea level rise, and similar initiatives.
“It was so significant that he chose this spot at the Baylands Nature Preserve to make the announcement because it’s such a tangible and visceral place to be talking about climate change,” Ellenberg said.
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Mercury News staff writers Gabriel Greschler, Hannah Kanik, Carolyn Stein and Nadia Lathan contributed to this story.
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