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President Biden’s stump speech Friday night in Virginia was interrupted by anti-pipeline protesters – leading the Commander-in-Chief to tell his audience to ignore the rowdies.
Biden was about two minutes away from his remarks at a rally in Arlington for Virginia Democratic candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe when a group of people started yelling “Stop Line 3!” Referring to a controversial oil pipeline project in northern Minnesota.
The rest of the crowd attempted to drown the protesters by booing and chanting “Come on, Joe!” as the president tried to restore order.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Biden said. “No No No No. Let them talk. It’s okay. Listen, this is not a Trump rally. Let them scream. Nobody’s paying attention.
The president spoke to an enthusiastic and largely unmasked crowd of about 3,000 in support of McAuliffe, a longtime Democratic heavyweight who is running for another term as governor of Virginia. McAuliffe previously held this position from 2014 to 2018. Under Virginia law, governors cannot run for a second consecutive term.
McAuliffe is the favorite to defeat his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, director of private equity. While the race is seen as competitive, the rapid growth of the Washington, DC suburbs in northern Virginia has tipped the Commonwealth into the reliable Democratic column. No Republican presidential candidate has won Virginia since George W. Bush in 2004, and the last GOPer elected governor was Bob McDonnell in 2009.
“You won’t find anyone, I mean no one, who knows how to do more for Virginia than Terry,” Biden said. “Election outside the year, the country is looking for. This is a big deal. “
Yet, as one of only two regularly scheduled governor races this year (New Jersey being the other), the Virginia contest is attracting disproportionate national attention as a potential measure of voter sentiment ahead of the election. midterm next year.
When not touting his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, Biden attempted to make Youngkin a “Donald Trump sidekick.”
“I ran against Donald Trump in Virginia and Terry too,” the president said at one point. “And I whipped Donald Trump in Virginia and Terry too.”
Biden also accused Republicans of offering “nothing more than fear, lies and broken promises.”
“The United States is based on – the only country in the world based on the proposition, ‘We take these truths for granted,’ that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness, ”he said. “We never passed the test, but we never strayed from it like the Republicans did.”
With post wires
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