The White House defended President Joe Biden‘s unscheduled trip to Delaware, saying it “worked out best for him” to vote there in person on Tuesday, rather than voting early or by absentee ballot.
Biden took an unscheduled trip to his home state Tuesday afternoon to vote in the Delaware primary. He took Air Force One, which costs taxpayers $177,000 an hour to fly, along with two motorcades using local police protection in order to do so.
The trip raised more than a few eyebrows.
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“Can you tell us why the president went to Wilmington yesterday to vote in the primary, when he could have had an absentee ballot or could have voted early in person when he was there last weekend?” a reporter asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday morning, also aboard Air Force One en route to Detroit.
“As you know, the president has a very heavy schedule,” Jean-Pierre responded. “He’s the president of the United States. It worked out best for him to vote yesterday, to vote on Tuesday. He thought it was important to exercise his constitutional right to vote.”
Biden also thanked poll workers for their work, Jean-Pierre added, though she did not say why he did not vote last weekend.
The move puts the president at odds with his two most recent predecessors. President Barack Obama voted absentee in both the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections, as did President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2020, according to Bloomberg.
Reporters attempted to ask Biden on Tuesday why he was voting in person rather than absentee, but he ignored the question. Biden said on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews the reason he traveled to Delaware was “to vote.”
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The president and first lady Jill Biden also stopped by their residence before returning to the White House.
The president frequently heads to his two Delaware homes for weekends, but he has also made a number of unscheduled trips to the “first state.” Before entering office, he made an off-schedule trip from Rehoboth, Delaware, to Wilmington for follow-up doctor’s appointments.
