President Joe Biden is set to travel to California early next week to Long Beach to help boost Gov. Gavin Newsom's campaign ahead of next week's recall election. White House officials say the trip will also include a tour of areas in northern California that have been recently damaged by wildfires.
Biden will reportedly start his trip to the West Coast on Monday, with a stop in Boise, ID, where he will visit the National Interagency Fire Center. Then, he heads to Sacramento where he will tour areas that have been recently damaged by major wildfires in the area.
After his stop, he will head down to Long Beach where he is is expected to campaign alongside Newsom at a rally on Monday. The rally is meant to encourage Democratic voters to cast their ballots - and vote no - on recalling Newsom in the special election scheduled for Tuesday.
The 2021 wildfire season in California has already seen a record number of acres burned, with major fires forcing evacuations of thousands of residents in Northern California. The Caldor Fire, which forced residents in South Lake Tahoe to flee their homes last week, has burned more than 200,000 acres across the El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. Just down the road, the Dixie Fire has scorched more than 900,000 acres in Butte, Tehama, Plumas, Shasta and Lassen counties. Both fires are still burning, but are more than 50% contained as of Thursday morning.
Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris returned to her home state of California to help campaign for Newsom as Democrats bring out their big names, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, to stump for the embattled governor.
The recall campaign gained steam after organizers of the recall effort focused on Newsom's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and criticizing his lockdown measures as too restrictive. In November 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, Newsom was also widely criticized for attending a dinner for a lobbyist at a Michelin 3-star restaurant, The French Laundry in Napa Valley. The dinner violated a number of Newsom's own coronavirus restrictions, including an excessive number of attendees at the party and the fact the dinner appeared to be held indoors.
All registered voters in California have been sent a mail-in ballot and can return their ballot by mail or at a local voting center on or before Sept. 14th. All California residents who are U.S. Citizens and will be 18 on or before Election Day are eligible to vote.