First Lady Pool Reports of November 8, 2023

FLOTUS pool report #1 in NYC

FLOTUS attended a fundraiser in New York's Chelsea neighborhood this evening. The event was hosted by Bryan Rafanelli, founder and CEO of event planning company Rafanelli Events. Rafanelli has planned the recent state dinner welcoming the Prime Minister of Australia, as well as an event celebrating FLOTUS's granddaughter's wedding.

The fundraiser was at the Refectory Chelsea Square and was in support of the Biden Victory Fund, the Biden-Harris campaign said. The event took place in an ornate cathedral hall with golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. About 150 guests were in attendance, and light hors d'oeuvres were served. Mark Walsh was also a co-host of the event.

At 5:50 p.m., Rafanelli welcomed guests and applauded the "extraordinary" amount of money raised by the Biden Victory Fund. He then listed some donors in the room.

"We've raised over $450,000," Rafanelli said to cheers.

Then, at 5:58 p.m., the first lady began speaking. "Wasn't last night a great night for democrats?" FLOTUS said to cheers from the crowd.

She then talked about growing up in the 1970s where she said she wore her "hair down to the middle of my waist, and so did most of the men I dated."

She then recounted the story of her first date with Joe Biden, where she wore a shirt and bell bottoms, while the President wore a "perfect suit and leather loafers." She recalls thinking, "thank God it's only one date." She then talked about how they quickly went on more dates and how she finally agreed to marry the President after he proposed five times.

She spoke about the challenges of being with someone who had a spouse before her: "It wasn't just my heart that was on the line," she said. She said she knew there was "room in his heart for both of us." She then said the love between her and the President has remained constant. She also spoke about how she will be back in the classroom tomorrow at 8 a.m. teaching writing.

Her speech then turned less personal and more political, where she spoke about how Joe is, and has always been, a "strong, steady leader." Even with everything going on in the world like the pandemic and war, "he is still that same steady leader," FLOTUS said

"Joe knows what to do; there is no learning curve," she said. "Our country needs it. He's the only person for this," she said.

She then recounted how, in the moments before the deciding 2020 election results rolled in, she and the President were sitting on a pier together. Then, her granddaughters had come running down a hill to tell them they had won the election. She spoke of how a "huge weight had been lifted" when she found out that they had won the election. She asked the crowd of donors to "think about that moment and remember the feeling of pure joy and relief."

She then asked listeners to remember the feeling of the morning after the polls closed in the 2016 presidential race: "Remember how you woke up and you said to yourself, 'Oh my god, what just happened?' We cannot let that happen again."

"That's why we have to start early," she said. "We have to meet this moment as if our rights are at stake, because they are" she said, adding that "our democracy is on the line."

She quickly listed out goals for Biden's next term, should he be re-elected: "We will make universal pre-k a reality, we will protect our kids from gun violence, we will preserve a woman's right to choose, we will save our democracy," with donors cheering after each goal was stated.

"Together, we will win this election and finish the job," she said to cheers, before leaving the stage at about 6:10 p.m.