Biden to deliver speech on strengthening US democracy in Arizona

President Biden will travel to the West Coast next week to hold campaign fundraisers and to deliver a speech in Arizona focused on strengthening American democracy, the White House announced Thursday.

Biden will travel to the San Francisco area next Tuesday and attend a campaign reception. On Wednesday, Biden will participate in two more campaign receptions and hold a meeting of his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The president will travel to the Phoenix area on Wednesday night, and on Thursday he will deliver remarks there “honoring the legacy of Senator John McCain, and the work we must do together to strengthen our democracy.”

Biden will also attend a campaign reception that night.

The president’s democracy-focused speech will come one day after the second Republican primary debate, which will take place in California at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, will not participate, instead giving a speech in Michigan.

Biden has repeatedly said that he believed the soul of the nation was at stake in the 2020 election, and in the nearly three years since he took office he has repeatedly spoken about the ongoing threat to democracy within the United States.

Biden has called out election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in democracy, taking aim at Trump and some of his allies in Congress. Biden last delivered a similar speech before the 2022 midterms.

Next week’s speech will have heavy symbolism because of its location and Biden’s intent to pay tribute to McCain, who was an outspoken Trump critic and a longtime friend of Biden’s dating back to their decades serving together in the Senate.

McCain died in August 2018 after a lengthy bout with cancer.

Arizona is also a critical swing state heading into 2024. Biden won the state by roughly 10,000 votes in 2020, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is up for reelection.