This Tuesday, January 23, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris held the first joint rally of this year’s presidential elections, in an unflattering start to the campaign for them. President Biden was interrupted ten times by pro-Palestinians during a speech to an auditorium that, although small, was far from full. Despite the interruptions, the re-election candidate tried to focus on warning about Trump’s return and promising to legalize abortion, both focuses of a campaign that, for practical reasons, has already started. Resigned, in the face of so many interruptions, Biden paused in his speech and said: “It’s going to take a long time, they planned for that.” Indeed, there were interruptions with Palestinian flags and cries of “genocide” regarding the White House’s support for Israel in its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas attacks. Those protesting were coordinated: they occupied seats throughout the audience and shouted as the president advanced. At each interruption, the Secret Service removed those who protested loudly, and Biden continued to speak on the rally’s topics: Trump and abortion. The auditorium, a 1,100-seat room, was not full at the start of the rally, after 4:30 p.m. local time. Minutes before the president’s arrival, campaign workers moved people down from the upper stands, but there were still large gaps in the stands, which were only two-thirds full, including a large representation of the press. Related news standard Yes Ron DeSantis’ withdrawal reduces primaries to an aggressive duel between Haley and Trump Javier Ansorena visual Yes Definitive guide to the US primaries: candidates, dates, states and how they work Javier Ansorena The rally took place in an auditorium at the George Mason University, in a state, Virginia, traditionally conservative but which has voted for Democratic presidents since the Barack Obama years. It is true that Virginia has a fairly popular Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, but in November 2023, his party suffered a severe setback when it lost the majority of the state legislature. The Republicans had proposed limiting abortion to 15 weeks if they managed to win these national elections. This first gathering of Biden and Harris in 2024 was intended to attack Trump specifically for forming the large conservative majority on the Supreme Court that allowed him to overturn his own 1973 decision that legalized abortion until fetal viability, the latter being known by the legal name. of ‘Roe v. Wade’. Yet the president couldn’t concentrate on his message and had to rush to get it over with quickly. At one point, a woman sitting in the auditorium told him, “Keep talking.” Biden spoke about Trump again: “There’s one person who has no idea how much power women have in this country, and that’s Donald Trump.” It is clear from these first speeches that the Biden campaign already believes that Trump will win the Republican primaries and that the female vote will be the key. This is how Vice President Harris explained it in her speech: “Women across the country are suffering, and they have a clear idea of who is responsible. Former President Trump selected three Supreme Court justices because he wanted them to overturn Roe v. Wade, and put our freedoms in danger. “He is the architect of this health crisis.” Although Harris is not receiving high marks in popularity polls, she received a more spirited reception in this auditorium than the president himself. Among the Democratic base, especially among the women at this rally, Harris is very popular, especially since if anything happened to the 81-year-old president, she would be the first woman to become president. As was evident at this first Biden and Harris rally of 2024, Democrats are counting on abortion restrictions to allow them to stay in the White House. Their bet is due to the fact that in conservative states that put abortion restrictions to a vote after the Supreme Court’s decision, voters have repeatedly opposed them. In 2022, for example, in the very conservative state of Kentucky, voters voted “no” to an amendment to the state Constitution that would have invalidated the so-called right to abortion. Something similar happened in Ohio and Kansas. Related news report Yes ABC, within a caucus: “We are camouflaged Democrats” Javier Ansorena The local pride of Iowa is to play this surprising and disproportionate role: a little more than a hundred thousand souls scattered in the frozen plains of the Midwest where almost nothing happens. According to the Supreme Court’s latest ruling, in June 2022, abortion authorizations depend on the states. The justices overturned their decision which allowed abortions throughout the United States until “fetal viability” was reached, which in practice was established around 22 or 23 weeks of gestation. After Trump nominated three of the Supreme Court’s nine justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – they authorized the reevaluation and reversal of the 1973 decision. Biden and Harris begin the campaign with unflattering poll numbers . If Trump wins, he will have a slight advantage in the direct vote, although it is too early to consider the polls good. Nikki Haley, the Republican primary candidate who remained Trump’s last rival and who is confident of a good result in this Tuesday’s primaries in New Hampshire, is further away from the current president. The elections take place on November 5. If Biden wins, he will be 82 when he takes office again, making him the oldest president in history.
