President Biden in Boston for concert with James Taylor, other campaign fundraisers

Air Force One, with President Joe Biden aboard, touched down at Logan Airport on Tuesday morning ahead of three presidential campaign fundraisers that will have the commander-in-chief in the Greater Boston area for most of the day.

Biden departed Joint Base Andrews at 10:26 a.m. and landed in Boston at 11:18 a.m., where he was greeted by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

After speaking with Healey and Wu for a short while, the Presidential Motorcade departed Logan to embark on Biden’s jam-packed schedule of events.

Singer-songwriter James Taylor is featured as the “special guest” at one of those fundraisers. The event is scheduled for Tuesday evening at the Shubert Theatre in downtown Boston.

An invitation from the MassDems bills the event as the “You’ve Got a Friend in Joe” fundraiser. Tickets started at $50 for the balcony and rear mezzanine, to $7,500 for the center front orchestra. Those most expensive tickets also include one VIP photo. The money will go to the Biden Victory Fund.

His first fundraiser of the day is in Weston at 1:45 p.m. but exact details on who is hosting that event and exactly where it is have not been disclosed.

The two other events in Boston are at 4:15 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., which includes the concert at the Shubert Theater.

The president is scheduled to fly out of Boston just after 8:00 p.m.

The Boston area visit is all part of a week of cross-country fundraising events for Biden. He has a campaign reception in Washington. D.C. on Wednesday. He will hold other fundraisers in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday.

“If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running. But cannot let him win,” Biden said about the risks former President Trump poses to democracy.

The Associated Press reports one is a big-dollar event that will be his first since strikes by writers and actors effectively ground his fundraising to a halt in the heart of the entertainment industry, which has long served as the ATM for the Democratic Party.

The event Friday at the home of Michael Smith, a celebrity interior designer, and his partner James Costos, a former HBO executive who was President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Spain, is expected to raise millions and draw a star-studded crowd. Rocker Lenny Kravitz is slated to perform.

Director Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, who starred in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” are among the hosts of the event, as are recording industry mogul David Geffen, “Scandal” showrunner Shonda Rhimes and “This is Spinal Tap” director Rob Reiner, according to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is also a co-host. Barbra Streisand is set to attend.

The event is part of a broader fundraising swing by Biden and comes as the Democratic president tries to stockpile cash for what will likely be a grueling rematch against Republican Donald Trump, according to the AP.

With a cash haul from elite party donors expected to reach into the millions, the Los Angeles event could help ease concerns among Democrats about Biden’s reelection chances. He already has drawn one primary rival, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, whose candidacy is a symbolic challenge to national Democrats trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt Biden’s electability, even as many Americans question whether the 81-year-old Biden should serve another term.

Boston 25 has also learned that former President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Durham, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m.

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