As Republican presidential candidates flocked to Southern California this week for a debate and the GOP convention, President Biden was busy in the San Francisco Bay Area collecting campaign checks and portraying the election as a choice between MAGA chaos and a functioning government.

At three fundraising events in some of Silicon Valley and San Francisco’s swankiest neighborhoods on Tuesday and Wednesday, Biden touted his administration’s achievements on climate and infrastructure, the United States’ support for Ukraine and opposition to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and his appointment of the president. first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

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Despite that progress for the Democratic Party, Biden said he is running for re-election because “democracy is still at stake” in next year’s election, a likely rematch with former President Trump, who has gained a lead in the Republican primaries.

Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy this democracy,” Biden said Tuesday evening during a private fundraising event at the Atherton mansion of Democratic donors and philanthropists Liz Simons and Mark Heising in San Francisco.

Tickets for the fundraiser cost up to $25,000, according to an online flyer for the event, whose guests include Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education, and Secretary of State Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), a social entrepreneur with depth. ties in Silicon Valley.

While Biden has largely avoided fundraising in Los Angeles amid several strikes by workers in the entertainment and hospitality industries, the president took the opportunity Wednesday in San Francisco to acknowledge the tentative agreement the Hollywood writers union reached this week studios reached.

“I welcome the interim resolution of the writers’ strike, for example here in California and Los Angeles,” he said, including safeguards on how AI will be used in the industry.

Biden made the comment during an official roundtable event with his president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, focusing on issues such as public health and artificial intelligence.

Looming over Biden’s course through the Bay Area was the likelihood of an impending government shutdown as Republicans control the House of Representatives

of representatives

battle over a government spending plan.

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During a Wednesday afternoon stop at the home of billionaire environmentalist and former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer in San Francisco’s upscale Sea Cliff neighborhood, Biden said a government shutdown would be “disastrous.” Once a primary rival in 2020, Biden has since built a cozier relationship with Steyer, whose Lake Tahoe home the president and his family stayed during a summer vacation.

I think the speaker is making a choice between the speakership and American interests, Biden told the 15 or so people gathered to hear him at Steyer’s home, referring to the challenging task of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield ) to negotiate with the extreme right. members of his caucus.

During his last event Wednesday

at the Century Club of California, Biden rebuked Republicans, who he said were abdicating “one of Congress’s most fundamental responsibilities” to fund the government.

“It’s time for Republicans and the House of Representatives to stand up and do their job,” Biden told the crowd of about 125 people, including California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a longtime Democratic donor and U.S. ambassador to Hungary during the Obama administration.

Though it’s easy for Biden to destroy Republicans on this trip through a Democratic stronghold, polls show

some

California voters are enthusiastic about his candidacy.

Although Biden has an easy 51%-31% lead over Trump in California, nearly half say they are open to candidates from third parties. These numbers are highest among younger, more moderate or nonpartisan voters.

“I think there’s probably less engagement among younger voters, and less enthusiasm for Biden among younger voters,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll.

Compared to 69% of respondents who thought Trump’s mounting legal troubles could hinder his re-election chances, 84% of voters thought Biden’s age was a problem.

“Over there

What [were]

“There is more sentiment among California voters that Biden’s age will pose a risk,” DiCamillo said.

Shortly after Biden left the Bay Area on Wednesday evening, seven Republican presidential candidates, sans Trump, took the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley to woo voters with promises to crack down on immigration and ban medical treatments for transgender youth.

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But Biden didn’t seem concerned about those candidates. Instead, he focused largely on offering himself as the optimistic antidote to Trump, who will speak at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim on Friday.

“We are on the run because our most important freedoms, the right to choose, the right to vote, the right to be who you are, to love who you love, are under attack and torn apart,” he said. “We are fleeing because our children should have the right to go to school without fear of being shot by a weapon of war.”