First Lady Pool Reports of January 18, 2024

FLOTUS Pool Report, Sonoma County (updated)

First Lady Jill Biden had an especially picturesque backdrop for her address at a Biden Victory Fund event outside the California Wine Country town of Healdsburg on Thursday afternoon. As she spoke on the patio of Puma Springs Vineyards – the fundraiser was hosted by its owners, Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb – behind Biden were the sun-streaked vineyards and hills of Dry Creek Valley.

Some 80-100 attendees drank wine around the tables assembled under a big party tent.

After Grasseschi introduced her, Biden stepped to the podium in a pink suit and began in a light tone. She thanked a few kids up front for getting dressed up after school, and she acknowledged Angélica Garcia, the president of nearby Santa Rosa Junior College, as a fellow educator.

"We haven't gone back yet," Biden said.

"We just started this week," Garcia responded.

Biden then recounted a first date with her future husband, Joe Biden. Noting that she wore her hair down to the middle of her waist – "and so did most of the men I dated" – she was surprised to find the neatly trimmed young Senator at her door.

"I open the door," Biden said, "and I take one look at his perfect suit, and his leather loafers, and I thought, 'Thank God this is only one date.' Well, one date turned into a marriage proposal. And if I'm being honest, it was five proposals. This was not part of my plan."

Biden then reflected on the tragic car accident that claimed the lives of Joe Biden's first wife and baby daughter, and put Beau and Hunter Biden in the hospital for several months.

"After all they had lost, I knew that if I said yes to Joe's proposal, that it had to be forever," Jill Biden said.

Around this point in the presentation, chants could be heard in the background. It was hard to make out what was being said, but it turned out to be pro-Palestinian protesters below the property on Chiquita Road, calling upon the Biden Administration to work toward a ceasefire in Gaza.

Biden then walked listeners through some of her husband's accomplishments in office, including guiding the strongest economic recovery in modern American history, nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, fighting (and winning) against Big Pharma and passing "the boldest climate change legislation in American history."

Biden talked about the healthy debates Democrats and Republicans used to have, contrasting that era with the extremism of this era.

"Today, it's about the survival of America's democracy, a battle for the soul of this nation," Biden said, standing at a podium with a stunning view of vineyards and hills in the background. "Between those of us in this room, and the hundreds of millions more across this country, who believe in America and wish to defend it, and those who are tearing it apart. Between those who hold sacred free and fair elections, and the peaceful transfer of power, and those who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6.

"Between those who seek to carry forward the bright torch of freedom and those who seek to snuff out its flame."

Biden noted that Election Day 2024 is 9½ months away – "a baby and a little bit."

In closing, FLOTUS asked attendees to remember how they felt the day after the 2016 election, when Donald Trump was elected president. (She did not utter his name Thursday.) The recollection drew groans from the audience. She summed up that feeling as, "Oh my God, what just happened?"

"I don't want to wake up again the next morning and say, 'Oh, we should have started earlier. We should have done this differently, we should have done that,'" Biden implored. "No. We have to begin right now. We have to meet this moment as if our rights are at stake – because they are. As if democracy is at stake – because it is."

Following the event, she was off to Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, headed to Los Angeles and then on to Ohio.

(Note: The name of the host venue was incorrect in the first version of this report. The correct name is Puma Springs Vineyards.)