Joe Biden Will Meet With Black Entertainment Industry Leaders During L.A. Visit This Weekend, Campaign To Run Grammy Ad Spot (Exclusive)

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Los Angeles on Saturday, with plans for the president to meet with Black leaders in the entertainment industry in town for the Grammys, according to a source familiar with the plans.

During the campaign visit, the president plans to talk with the industry leaders about the issues at stake in the election, and how they can use their platforms to mobilize voters between now and the November election, according to the source.

The Bidens are planning to travel to Las Vegas on Sunday for the reelection campaign, so they will not be attending the Grammy ceremony. But during the telecast, the campaign plans to air a recently introduced ad spotlighting abortion rights, with the spot running in markets in battleground states, the source said.

There has been some buzz over the past few days that the Bidens would be visiting L.A. when helicopter squadrons, like those that transport the president, were spotted in Los Angeles airspace. This will be the Bidens’ first trip to the region since December, when they were in town for a fundraising swing. The president has no major fundraising events on his schedule for this trip, but he has in the past also held private meetings with supporters. There also is some expectation among donors that the president will return by the end of the first quarter, March 31, for another fundraising visit.

Last year, the first lady attended the Grammy ceremony and presented the first ever best song for social change award. More details of the president’s meeting are likely to emerge through the weekend.

As they did in 2020, the Biden campaign is expected to draw on supporters in the entertainment industry in efforts to get-out-the-vote and other mobilization efforts leading up to November. In the final month of the race in the last cycle, such artists as Ludacris, Monica, Jermaine Dupri and Jeezy lent their voices to get-out-the-vote spots in battleground states.