Biden arrives in Arizona to campaign, announce new semiconductor funding
President Joe Biden touched down in Phoenix Tuesday afternoon for his second stop in a campaign swing through Nevada and Arizona, states that are expected to play an outsized role in his campaign for a second term in the White House.
The president’s flight arrived about an hour early, so the welcoming party to greet Biden on the tarmac was sparse.
Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis said he was grateful to welcome the president given the important role Arizona is expected to play as a swing state in the upcoming presidential election.
Lewis specifically praised the Biden administration for their repeated outreach to Arizona’s 22 tribal communities.
“You know, his presence, Vice President Harris’s presence, that is so important,” Lewis told KJZZ.
After landing, the president headed to a campaign event in Phoenix focused on driving out Latino voters.
On Wednesday morning, Biden is expected to make an announcement about semiconductor manufacturing at Intel’s Chandler campus.
Reuters reported last week that the funding will help Intel expand its chip production in the United States, including in Arizona, a key swing state that Biden narrowly won in the 2020 presidential election.
Congressman Greg Stanton was ecstatic as he waited to greet Biden at Phoenix Sky Harbor.
“The CHIPS and Science Act is gonna put semiconductor manufacturing on steroids here and across the country. No state in the country will better benefit from the CHIPS and Science Act than Arizona,” Stanton said ahead of the president’s arrival.
Signed in 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act allocates $53 billion in federal funds to boost domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing.
→ Get more Arizona politics news
