Jill Biden emphasizes infrastructure, safer schools, LGBTQ+ issues in Provincetown visit

Jill Biden spoke directly to the interests of constituents of her husband, President Joe Biden, on her fundraising visit Friday to Cape Cod. She also met with supporters of her husband on Saturday on Nantucket.

At a private fundraiser Friday afternoon in Provincetown, Biden spoke to about 300 people about her background as a mother, grandmother, a full-time teacher, and how she met her husband in 1970. He proposed five times, she said, according to fundraising co-sponsor Bryan Rafanelli. The money raised will go to reelect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, according to the sponsors.

"She talked about guns and our position on the world stage, infrastructure, and it was all what we needed to understand and hear and repeat over and over again," Rafanelli said after the event.

Biden touted her husband's legislative accomplishments, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, according to a White House pool report. Biden also highlighted the president’s work promoting LGBTQ rights, including signing the Respect for Marriage Act. “I hope you’re proud because you made that possible,” she said to the crowd, many of whom were members of the LGBTQ+ community in Provincetown. “His wins are your wins.”

Biden also recounted the White House’s recent Pride event in June on the South Lawn, which featured Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten, according to the pool report. Biden said she’s also attended Pride events in Tennessee and Minnesota. “There was joy and electricity, made fragile by the looming work that we knew was on the other side of that celebration,” she said.

There are challenges ahead, she said, according to the pool report. “We already know what’s in store if these MAGA Republicans win,” she said during her speech. “The safety of LGBTQ Americans even more at risk, U.S. policy being dictated by late-night tweets, a constant assault on our most sacred institutions, our democracy, and our freedoms.”

Biden also highlighted the work of Rafanelli, who recently planned the White House wedding of the Bidens’ granddaughter, Naomi, according to the pool report. She ended her speech by calling on the crowd to spread her message and garner support for the president’s reelection. “I want you to go out and tell your friends why this matters: protecting the LGBTQ community, defending women’s rights, growing our economy from the bottom up and the middle out, acting now on climate change,” Biden said.

Jill Biden was very personal and personable, and "it was really joyful," said Provincetown fundraiser co-sponsor Alix Ritchie on Saturday. "At the same time, everyone recognized there's a lot of work to do to re-elect the Biden and Harris team."

Outside the main event on Friday, Jill Biden spoke to some about "what's going on with the right-wing attack on education and banning books, and how fearsome that is, that people are doing that," Ritchie said.

Tickets for the Jill Biden fundraiser in Provincetown started at $500.

On Saturday afternoon, she spoke at a fundraiser on Nantucket.

Beyoncé Knowles’ song 'Crazy In Love' blaring at Provincetown fundraiser as Biden arrives

Around 4:15 p.m. Friday, the Secret Service began to close off Commercial Street in Provincetown to allow a motorcade to bring Biden to the fundraiser at the home of Rafanelli and his husband Mark Walsh. A couple dozen people slowly built up on both ends of the street, with a mix of anticipation and annoyance.

As impeccably dressed guests lined up outside the venue, a DJ was playing pop music and Beyoncé Knowles’ song “Crazy in Love” blared from inside.

“Jill likes a good bop,” said a cyclist as he cruised by.

After another 20 minutes, the motorcade arrived, and Biden got out of a car, giving the crowd a wave. Secret Service agents immediately whisked her inside, behind a high green hedge and into a white tent.

Many bystanders had phones out, hoping to snap a picture, and Bernard Pont was among them.

Pont, a Provincetown resident, lingered after the first lady went into the fundraiser. He lives next door to the event space and said he's been around for many upscale events hosted by Rafanelli and Walsh. Pont is a "big fan" of the Bidens, he said, in part because of what they’ve done for the gay community during the Obama administration.

They're really down-to-earth, authentic people, Pont said.

"I'm too old to be out organizing like I used to," he said. "I just give money now."

On Nantucket Jill Biden touts infrastructure, gun legislation, love of the island

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Jill Biden's Cape Cod, Nantucket fundraisers highlight accomplishments