‘I’m all in!’: Biden touts his record at NAACP conference in Las Vegas

President Joe Biden said former President Donald Trump’s first term was “hell for Black America” and warned an audience of Black activists in Las Vegas Tuesday that a second Trump term would “undo everything” the NAACP stands for.

It was just one contrast the president made between himself and his opponent during a speech at the NAACP’s 115th National Convention Tuesday.

“I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job,” Biden told attendees.

Biden singled out Trump’s efforts to repeal Obamacare and tax cuts for the super wealthy as being particularly harmful to the Black community.

In contrast, Biden highlighted what he called the successes of his administration, including nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He also named increased investments to Historic Black Colleges and Universities, student debt forgiveness, mortgage relief and lowering prescription costs.

In a response to Biden’s visit to Las Vegas, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said voters are “fed up with being broke.”

“It’s no wonder why President Trump is winning every battleground state, including Nevada — voters are fed up with being broke under Biden, and they are ready to Make America Great Again,” Whatley said in a statement.

Biden, who used a teleprompter for his speech, also made mention of the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday, and said politics in the country have gotten “too heated.”

“We all have a responsibility to lower the temperature and condemn violence in any form,” he said.

The president also made mention of a new rent cap proposal unveiled by his office Tuesday morning.

The plan includes calling on Congress to pass legislation that would require corporate landlords to cap rent increases on existing units at 5 percent or risk losing federal tax breaks.

The rule would apply to landlords with over 50 units in their portfolio, which includes over 20 million housing units across the country, according to the White House.

The plan could also repurpose public land to enable as many as 15,000 affordable housing units to be built in Nevada, according to the White House.

Biden expanded on that proposal during a Vote to Live event at the Community College of Southern Nevada’s North Las Vegas campus Tuesday afternoon, where he was joined by U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford.

The president announced during the event that his administration had awarded a $50 million federal grant to the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority and the city of Las Vegas for the restoration of over 230 existing affordable housing units. The grant is also meant to help build 400 new housing units.

The Bureau of Land Management is considering the sale of 20 acres of public land to Clark County for $100 per acre, according to officials.

In a statement, Gov. Joe Lombardo said he was concerned about the president’s rent control proposal.

“Like many others, I’m also concerned about President Biden’s rent control proposal, which studies have repeatedly shown to inadvertently raise rental costs and lead to lower-quality housing options,” he said.

The president also took aim at Project 2025 during the remarks, warning that it would “repeal all we’re doing.”

Project 2025 is a controversial set of conservative policy proposals created by the Heritage Foundation and meant to be used as a handbook by the next Republican president, according to the Associated Press.

Biden, who arrived in Las Vegas Monday evening, will also speak at the UnidosUS conference on Wednesday.

Biden last visited Nevada in February. His visit follows two near back-to-back visits to the state by Vice President Kamala Harris, who made appearances in Las Vegas on July 9 and June 28.

Biden’s visit comes after he vowed to stay in the race despite calls from some Democrats that he should step down following a shaky presidential debate performance against former president Donald Trump.

Polling

Polling has shown Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen since 2021, but his support among the voting group remains substantially higher than that of Trump’s.

An AP analysis of polls conducted in June found that 7 in 10 Black Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump, while 6 in 10 have a positive view of Biden. That’s down, however, from 8 in 10 when Biden took office, according to the AP.

An April Pew survey shows Black voters prefer Biden at 78 percent, compared to 18 percent of voters who prefer Trump. But nearly half of Black voters say they would replace Biden and Trump with different candidates.

A poll from the Washington Post/Ipsos Survey of Black Americans showed 42 percent of voters said they would definitely vote for Biden, while just 4 percent said they would definitely vote for Trump. The poll has a 3.2 margin of error.

The poll shows that 62 percent of Black Americans have a favorable impression of Biden and just 16 percent hold a favorable impression of Trump. Biden’s favorability has dropped 7 percentage points from 2022, when Biden held a 55 percent margin of favorable sentiment, according to the poll.

The poll includes a sample of 1,331 Black adults and was conducted April 9-16.

Polls of all registered voters show Trump leading Biden by a small margin. A New York Times and Siena College poll conducted after the presidential debate shows Trump leading with 49 percent, compared to Biden’s 43 percent.

The poll surveyed 1,532 registered voters from June 28 to July 2 and has a 2.8 margin of error.

‘He continues to show up and fight every single day’

Conference attendee Reneka Thomas, who is 45 and has never seen a president up-close before, said on Tuesday morning that she planned to watch Biden speak.

Thomas said she attended the conference to network with NAACP members from across the country and because she is very invested in the election in November. Thomas supports Biden’s reelection bid due to his stance on cutting government programs, she said.

“They’re trying to cut off the benefits for the citizens,” said Thomas, who lives in Illinois. “I don’t think that’s right, and I think Biden is against that.”

Tyrone Mitchell, 70, said before Biden spoke that he didn’t anticipate that Biden’s speech would be the highlight of his time attending this year’s NAACP conference. Mitchell also didn’t expect Biden’s words to impact how he votes in November, he added.

“I am already ‘all in’ with him, so he won’t be swaying me,” the Pennsylvania resident said.

Charles Taylor, the executive director of the NAACP Mississippi State Conference, said Biden’s speech excited him and made him look forward to the presidential election.

“President Biden is one of the most effective presidents we’ve had in modern history,” said Taylor, who is 34.

Biden’s roughly 30 minutes of speaking Tuesday afternoon validated Taylor’s thoughts on the president’s effectiveness, Taylor said. The speech also affirmed to Taylor that Biden is an advocate of democracy, he added.

Kamilia Landrum, who is the executive director of the NAACP Detroit Branch, said she was grateful that Biden took the time to discuss his commitment to the Black community and his investment in diverse leaders.

“I don’t think he can talk too much about what he promised and what he accomplished,” Landrum said.

The Biden administration’s efforts regarding housing, small businesses and child poverty have benefited the Black community, Landrum said. She added the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court exemplifies the president’s work promoting diversity in government.

Landrum, 35, said the chants of “four more years” which erupted during Biden’s speech were evidence that the people at the conference believe that Biden can still do his job well.

“I’m just thankful that he continues to show up and fight every single day for what he believes America can be,” she said.

Biden’s speech, in the view of Jahnaiya Sutherland, 20, demonstrated that the president’s overarching beliefs are in line with those of the NAACP, Sutherland said.

Sutherland, who is the president of the NAACP chapter at Salisbury University in Maryland, said she traveled to the convention from the East Coast to learn about how to motivate voters who don’t completely agree with Biden administration policies.

“We don’t always agree with policies that may be put in place or inaction on certain issues,” Sutherland said.

Opinions of many NAACP members in college about the Israel-Hamas War, for example, clash with the Biden administration’s stance on the war, Sutherland said.

Contact Taylor R. Avery at tavery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on X. Contact Peter Breen at pbreen@reviewjournal.com.