Biden Makes First Rally Appearance Since Exiting 2024 Race, Touts Medicare Deal

President Joe Biden appeared at a campaign rally for Kamala Harris for the first time since dropping out of the race in July, where he touted a new deal with pharmaceutical companies that lowers prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients.

For Context: The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 empowered Medicare to negotiate the prices they pay for some high-expenditure drugs.

Key Quotes from Biden:

• Referring to the Inflation Reduction Act: “We finally beat Big Pharma, and, I might add, with no help from Republicans. Not a single Republican vote for this bill, period, not one in the entire Congress.”
• “The guy we’re running against, what’s his name? Donald Dump or Donald, whatever, they want to get rid of this, what we passed.”
• “Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: beat the hell out of them.”
• About Harris: “I have an incredible partner in the progress we made. She’s going to make one hell of a president.”
• “Last time I was too damn young because I was only 29 when I got elected, now I’m too damn old.”

How the Media Covered It: Left media prominently featured the rally on their homepages Thursday evening; coverage from the center and right was more subdued. The Guardian (Lean Left bias) highlighted energetic crowd reactions to lines from Biden and Harris. NewsNation (Center) led with Biden’s “Donald Dump” quip. Daily Caller (Right) covered a post-rally comment from a CNN (Lean Left) contributor who said the rally showed “why Democrats are so thrilled that Joe Biden is not their candidate anymore, just from his performance and his ability to complete thoughts.”