Saturday, February 15, 2025

‘I’m a president for all Americans’: Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, with mayoral and gubernatorial welcome

Joe Biden speaks to a crowd of roughly 200 people at the Wilmington Convention Center Thursday. (Port City Daily/Peter Castagno)

WILMINGTON — The secret service swarmed the tarmac Thursday afternoon at the airport’s Aero Center as Air Force One landed just after 4 p.m.

READ MORE: Biden’s Wilmington visit not open to the public

Arriving as part of an official visit from the White House, President Joe Biden was greeted by Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, shaking hands, sharing a hug and a few quick remarks. Later as Biden took the mic at the downtown Wilmington Convention Center, it turns out chatter had revolved around the commonality of being from Wilmington.

The president hails from the other one — in Delaware. 

“By the way, you ain’t the only Wilmington in America,” he quipped to the crowd of roughly 200 people, thanking Saffo for a “passport to the city.”

Mayor Bill Saffo opened the White House event with a few words Thursday at Wilmington Convention Center. (Port City Daily/Peter Castagno)

“And guess what?” Biden rhetorically asked. “The mayor lived in Wilmington, Delaware, as well … and his daughter graduated from my alma mater, University of Delaware.”

Before speaking at the convention center, Biden and Saffo stood between a secret service limousine and the Boeing VC-25A aircraft at ILM. The hum of engines awaited them to load in as part of a dozen-or-so-car motorcade, complete with two Novant Health ambulances, transporting the Commander in Chief to his destination.

Saffo delivered remarks first, noting the community should band together to continuously fight for fair practices in government. He also tied in his Greek heritage.

“The great Athenian statesman Pericles, the greatest mayor in history, said this: What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others,” Saffo said. “That’s the heart of public service. It takes all of us working together.”

Mostly a Democratic majority was in attendance, with familiar faces including Wilmington council members Clifford Barnett and Kevin Spears, NHC Representative Deb Butler, North Carolina NAACP President Deborah Maxwell and NHC Democratic Chair Jill Hopman, among other party members. Republican council member Luke Waddell was also in attendance.

They stood in ovation once Gov. Roy Cooper spoke. 

“If Air Force One’s crew ever gets confused about which Wilmington to fly to, tell them to head south!” Cooper told Biden’s team.

The governor hailed Biden’s investment in infrastructure, noting without Biden there would be no Biden Infrastructure Law.

Governor Cooper riled up the crowd Thursday ahead of President Biden’s speech at the Wilmington Convention Center. (Port City Daily/Peter Castagno)

The president came to the Port City to announce a $76-million investment to replace toxic lead pipes in North Carolina, as part of a $3 billion effort nationwide. The Biden Infrastructure Law was signed in 2021 to fund a multitude of projects — roads, bridges, public transit, with a goal to reduce environmental impact, such as strengthening rail, and particularly providing access to clean drinking water.

“When you turn on the tap, you should get clean water,” Cooper said. “Families have too much to worry about today than to worry if they can trust their tap water.”

Biden took to the the lectern around 5 p.m., as introduced by Paris Pugh, Bradley Creek Elementary teacher.

“Our kids can’t prioritize their education when they’re concerned about having a safe and healthy place to learn,” Pugh said, noting one of Bradley Creek’s water fountains was found to be contaminated with lead. “We swiftly resolved the issue, but no teacher or student should have to worry about their most basic needs, like access to clean water.”

Biden discussed how lead pipes, while durable and preventing rust, leach toxins into the water. They’ve been used for generations in infrastructure.

“The science is clear,” he said, “lead service lines pose severe health risks, damaging brain and kidneys, and in children especially stunts growth. Slow learning can cause lasting brain damage. We know we can stop it. We know how to do it.”

He added nine million lead service lines connect to homes and businesses in the United States, with 300,000 in North Carolina.  

Public policy advocate Kyle Horton — who ran for Congress and lost to Republican David Rouzer in 2018 — told Port City Daily after the event she believed Biden’s clean water initiatives will be of tremendous benefit to future generations.

She noted she graduated high school in Flint, Michigan, ground zero for lead contamination. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that people have really been aware to the extent to which lead contamination is an issue right here at home,” she said.

Biden said a bulk of the money for the lead pipe replacement will go to underserved and low-income communities.

Michael Regan spoke in Wilmington Thursday ahead of President Biden. (Port City Daily/Peter Castagno)

The local Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has been preparing since new federal lead regulations went into effect in 2021; it mandates public water systems meet the standards by Oct. 16, 2024 to prevent drinking water contamination.. The authority secured $4.16 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to survey its system; so far it has replaced 300 galvanized service lines suspected to have lead “gooseneck” connectors. However, CFPUA noted in a release Thursday that, to date, it has not found lead service lines.

EPA administrator Michael Regan, formerly the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality director, also spoke Wednesday. In addition to lead contamination, Regan tackled PFAS; it’s his second visit to the state in two weeks. He was in Fayetteville with Cooper recently to announce national drinking water limits on PFAS. 

“It is great to be home back in North Carolina,” Regan said, thanking Biden’s administration for investing $9 billion to rid PFAS from water.

“No parent should have to carry the weight of that worry, and no person should fear that their tap water will poison them,” he said, calling access to clean water a “basic human right.”

Cooper added that for years he had called D.C., particularly the previous administration, for help. 

“Those calls went unanswered,” he said.

Just this month, the EPA issued regulations designating PFOA and PFOS, two PFAS, on its hazardous substances list and announced standards for water utility companies.

“Communities near the Cape Fear watershed know too well why this matters,” Biden said. “You’ve seen aggressive cancers emerge in the area. It’s gone so far. We’re advising and warning you can’t eat the fish from the same water that you drink.”

While Biden was there to promote this latest tranche of funding for lead pipe replacement, he didn’t back away from some campaigning. He called out adversaries who have shooed the Biden Infrastructure Law, particularly North Carolina Senator Tedd Budd, who cited it as “fatally flawed.” 

Joe Biden in Wilmington Thursday. (Port City Daily/Peter Castagno)

Yet, Biden pointed out Budd has reached out about support for various projects funded by the law. One is a federal grant application for the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

“God bless the boy,” Biden said, to laughter. “But all kidding aside, I’m a president for all Americans, whether you voted for me or not.”

Biden also addressed saving 900,000 households in North Carolina $550 million under his access to high-speed internet as part of the Affordable Connectivity Program — something he was quick to say Republicans didn’t support. He explained bills for people utilizing the program were around $30 a month and called on Congress to extend the program.

“Progress is part of my vision for an economy that grows from the middle out and the bottom up, not just the top down,” he said. “I’m sick and tired of trickle-down economics.”

Biden addressed jobs, stating he helped create 15 million in America while in office, with more than 460,000 in North Carolina. He touted wages rising 3% statewide and unemployment moving from 5.6% to 3.5%, “lower than any year from the previous administration.”

He compared his administration’s federal debt to the previous one, noting the 45th president accumulated more than any president in history; the Poynter Institute has fact-checked this to be half-true.

Biden also called out Trump — though not by name — for rolling back policies on the environment and boasting it was “infrastructure week, every single week.”

“You didn’t build a damn thing,” Biden said.

Big Pharma was broached, per access to affordable medications. Last year, the administration successfully pushed for the reduction of insulin prices from $400 a month to $35 a month for the elderly. Biden said plans include passing it for everyone during his “next term.”

“It’s time to make corporations pay their fair share,” he said, adding measures taken during the last four years has saved taxpayers $160 million in the next decade. “Where I come from, this is called a ‘big deal.'”

Air Force One arrived just after 4 p.m. Thursday at ILM’s Aero Center. (Port City Daily/Shea Carver)

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Shea Carver
Shea Carver
Shea Carver is the editor in chief at Port City Daily. A UNCW alumna, Shea worked in the print media business in Wilmington for 22 years before joining the PCD team in October 2020. She specializes in arts coverage — music, film, literature, theatre — the dining scene, and can often be tapped on where to go, what to do and who to see in Wilmington. When she isn’t hanging with her pup, Shadow Wolf, tending the garden or spinning vinyl, she’s attending concerts and live theater.

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