Why is Kamala Harris Coming to the Hudson Valley This Month?
After President Biden briefly visited Westchester this week, his number two will follow with a trip to the Hudson Valley later this month.
We've seen lots of visits from the White House ever since Joe Biden was elected. Back in October, the president swung by the IBM manufacturing facility in Poughkeepsie to announce a 20 million dollar investment in the Hudson Valley over the next ten years. Speaking to reporters and workers at IBM, Biden dropped several local references, including some jokes about Poughkeepsie being the birthplace of the coughdrop.
Just this week, Biden returned to the region, making a speech about the debt ceiling at Westchester Community College. Much like the president's stop in Poughkeepsie, the visit caused lots of traffic issues around the college. Some keen observers report seeing Air Force One landing at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, which is one of the only airports in the area that is large enough to accommodate the president's jet.
Now it looks like Vice President Kamala Harris has become jealous of Biden's visits to the Hudson Valley and is planning a trip to our area later this month.
Harris has been officially announced as the commencement speaker for West Point's class of 2023. According to the Associated Press, the vice president will become the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at West Point's graduation. The historic visit will take place on the grounds of the military academy on May 27. In the likely event that Harris will be taking Air Force Two on her visit to the area, you can most likely assume that she will be landing in Newburgh. Of course, West Point has its own helipads as well, so it's unknown just how the VP will make her way to the campus.
The Hudson Valley has several other high-profile commencement speakers visiting the area this month. The CEO of Warner Bros, a New York State Supreme Court judge, United States Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books, will all be speaking at local graduations this month.