First Lady Pool Reports of October 23, 2024

FLOTUS Pool Report #1 — Las Vegas 10/23

First Lady Jill Biden visited Xiao Long Dumplings in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday morning to encourage AAPINH early voting in the key battleground state – joined with Nevada Assemblyman Duy Nguyen and U.S. House Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev and actress Padma Lakshmi.

FLOTUS stood behind the podium at 10:15 AM with Lakshmi by her side. She sported a light blue blazer over a white button-up.

The lawmakers ahead of FLOTUS, Nguyen and Lee, spoke about former president Trump's relationship with the Asian American community. Nguyen spoke first and spoke on why being a Vietnamese immigrant and small business owner encourages him to support Harris.

Lee, speaking next, mentioned Trump calling Covid-19, the "China virus," and said that his inaction during the pandemic shows his failures as a leader.

Lakshmi took the stage alongside FLOTUS moments later. Lakshmi talked about Vice President Kamala Harris' "vision for the future." She warned against a second Trump presidency, mentioning Betsy Devos and said she made it hard for women to come out with sexual assault allegations in colleges. She spoke on Trump's abortion policies and his "beautiful thing to watch" remarks.

FLOTUS began by thanking Lakshmi and the restaurant's owner, Maya Kwong. FLOTUS called Kwong on stage, then also thanked Lee and Nguyen. FLOTUS asked for barriers to come down and for the audience to come closer to her. They did.

"See this feels like a hug to me," FLOTUS said.

She said the AANHPI community came out for her husband in 2020, but today she was asking them to come out for Harris and Walz.

FLOTUS stressed the importance of a single vote and said she almost didn't vote for her husband, President Joe Biden, when he was running as a senator and she was a University of Delaware student.

President Biden won his senate election by about a slim margin, she said.

"Joe won that election by only about 3,000 votes, and it could easily have gone the other way," FLOTUS said. "So, I've been thinking back to that election, because in November, this campaign will be decided by votes in battleground states like this one, with only a handful of votes. Every vote counts."

FLOTUS said she wanted to talk about why she is voting for Harris, starting by saying she will "fight back against greedy corporations and crack down on price gouging." Then, FLOTUS said Harris would also lower housing costs, mentioning the proposed $25,000 downpayment assistance for first-time home buyers.

"Now these aren't radical ideas they're practical ways to make your life easier and more fair," FLOTUS said.

Harris "is going to need great partners in Washington, which is why we need to send Congresswomen Susie Lee back to the House." She also said that's why Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., needs to be reelected this November.

Then, FLOTUS said it was time to talk about Trump who "thinks about one person and one person only – himself." She said another Trump administration would lead to more chaos, more greed, more division. She said he wants to lower taxes on rich guys like him and give corporations a tax cut while costs go up for everyone else.

"That is unacceptable, teachers like me, like many of you in the crowd. I'm sure firefighters and nurses shouldn't have to pay a higher tax rate than a CEO," FLOTUS said.

She said it was especially important because the new president will likely appoint new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, and future generations must live with the consequences of that.

FLOTUS spoke about the 2016 election, particularly the feeling Democrats experienced after Election Day.

She asked attendees to remember that feeling, thinking about if they had made more calls, or knocked on more doors. She said they cannot let that happen again.

"Here in Nevada, We can't let that happen again," FLOTUS said.

She said Democrats must work harder than they've ever worked before.

FLOTUS wrapped up remarks in about 10 minutes. She's slated for a second appearance in Las Vegas later this morning.

FLOTUS Pool Report #2 — Las Vegas 10/23

After an event at Xiao Long Dumplings with AANHPI voters, FLOTUS' next Las Vegas stop was a Nevada Democratic coordinated campaign field office in Summerlin. Around 10:50 AM, U.S. House Rep. Susie Lee was back behind the podium. She stood next to FLOTUS.

Lee said she was with the best first lady and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She spoke about getting elected in 2018, the year Democrats flipped the House, and how it's because of the groundwork volunteers do.

Lee said Election Day is not Nov. 5, but that it's now in Nevada's early voting period. Early voting began on Saturday and will run through Nov. 1 in the Silver State.

Lee said they're all here to talk about "one incredibly personal and important issue, which is a woman's right and freedom to make decisions."

She said she is the proud mother of two children, both conceived with IVF, and that she experienced three miscarriages.

Lee led a "we're not going back" chant.

At 10:58 AM, Lee handed the microphone to actress Padma Lakshmi. Lakshmi was also with FLOTUS at the previous stop in Xiao Long Dumplings earlier that morning. She said that, under Trump, there was a rise in hate crimes, a decline in education and "so many things that are antithetical to being American."

Shifting to reproductive rights, Lakshmi said she remembered June 24 2022 when the news came down that the U.S. The Supreme Court had taken down Roe v. Wade. She said she got chills just thinking about it again. Lakshmi opened up about when she was 14 years old and survived a car accident with her parents. Her mother, who was pregnant, was advised by a doctor to not have the baby because it would be a hazard to her health. Lakshmi recounted walking her mother to the Planned Parenthood clinic, surrounded by groups yelling and screaming at the two as they walked into the clinic.

"I promised that day that I would do everything I could, so then no young girl, no woman, would have to go through that humiliation," she said.

Lakshmi also said Trump is a convicted felon and that, as a survivor of sexual assault, she does not want to see someone legally defined as a sexual predator in the Oval Office.

At 11:08 AM, FLOTUS began speaking. The crowd started with a "thank you Jill," chant. FLOTUS thanked the audience, Lakshmi and Lee.

FLOTUS said that with two weeks until Election Day, it's important to remember the current moment: where this is the first generation in half of a century where young women today will have fewer rights than the previous generation, she said.

She said that she remembered being shocked when Roe v. Wade was overturned, but that looking back, she should have expected it. FLOTUS said that Trump had hand picked three justices to restrict reproductive freedom.

FLOTUS also opened up about her personal experience with abortion. She shared that, as a 17-year-old, one of her friends got pregnant. She said it was the late 60s, and abortion was illegal in her home of Pennsylvania. Her friend said she would have to go to a psychiatrist to be declared mentally unfit before the doctor would perform the procedure to end her pregnancy.
FLOTUS continued, when her friend was discharged from the hospital, she couldn't go back to her house, and FLOTUS said she "gathered my courage" and asked her mom if her friend could live with them. Her friend came to stay with them, and FLOTUS' mother never told anyone about it, she said.

"Secrecy, shame, silence, danger, even death. That was the reality back then, and that's where Donald Trump has left women today, less safe and less free," FLOTUS said.

FLOTUS mentioned passing Question 6, to which the audience clapped and cheered. The ballot initiative seeks to enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution. It's currently protected under law, but advocates behind the ballot question are looking for more protections. FLOTUS said it's not enough and they must elect Harris, her running mate Tim Walz and Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

She said no one must abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government shouldn't tell women what to do with their bodies. FLOTUS said this isn't just about reproductive freedom, but "for the generations of women who have fought for our rights, for all the men who understand that this is their fight too, for every young girl – like this beautiful little girl – who will grow up in a world that will decide who is this November."

FLOTUS reminded attendees of President Joe Biden's victory of around 33,000 votes in Nevada, and how Democrats must do that again.

FLOTUS finished speaking at 10:14 AM.