High-profile visitor

Biden’s visit seals CT as a top destination for administration

WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden flies into Groton-New London Airport on Wednesday, he will secure Connecticut’s spot as one of the most visited states by top federal officials in the first four months of his administration.

Biden is returning to the Nutmeg State to deliver a commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London on Wednesday. His visit will notch at least five separate visits to Connecticut from Biden senior administration officials — and members of the first family — in

the first four months of the new president’s term.

According to a Hearst Connecticut Media analysis of the president, first lady, vice president and second gentleman’s travel schedules, only Delaware (Biden’s home state) Maryland and Virginia (areas adjacent to Washington D.C. with many government sites) and Pennsylvania have had more visits than Connecticut from the quartet of the first and second couples.

California (where Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, call home) has had an equal number of visits as Connecticut from the two couples.

In addition to Biden’s stop to New London, Harris flew in to New Haven last month for a stop to highlight pandemic relief for parents and child care. First Lady Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona — Connecticut’s former commissioner of education — visited an elementary school in Meriden in March to discuss school reopening.

The New London area is emerging as a premier destination for Biden administration officials to make a local appearance. Before Biden’s visit Wednesday, the secretaries of Labor and Commerce, Marty Walsh and Gina Raimondo, toured an Electric Boat apprenticeship program in nearby Groton earlier this month. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker made his own pilgrimage to Electric Boat in April, as well as stops at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and Naval Submarine Base in New London and Sikorsky’s factory in Stratford.

Why all the love for Connecticut?

In short, it’s the base. As part of that, Connecticut residents donate heavily to Democratic elections and causes, said Gayle Alberda, assistant professor of politics at Fairfield University.

“You can’t always come to a place and ask for money,” Alberda said, noting that the 2022 midterm elections are approaching. “You have to foster that relationship.”

Gov. Ned Lamont was one of the president’s earliest gubernatorial supporters and personally held fundraisers to back Biden. Lamont is expected to attend Biden’s speech Wednesday.

“I think I’ll be meeting with him,” Lamont said Tuesday when asked about the visit.

In addition, Connecticut is generally friendly to Biden’s policies and agenda and the state’s COVID-19 response has closely aligned with the Biden administration’s recommendations, Alberda noted. Biden can use Connecticut as a way of promoting his own plan nationally.

And Connecticut is home to key Biden congressional allies: U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, chairs the allpowerful House Appropriations Committee, while Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, DConn., are leading the Senate negotiations on gun control. Education Secretary Cardona hails from Meriden, where he was a teacher and school administrator.

Finally, the focus on coastal New London, and in particular, the area’s submarine production, naval base and Coast Guard hub, aligns with the Biden administration’s philosophy of promoting “seapower” to modernize the U.S. military portfolio.

Biden has not yet released a detailed defense budget — that’s expected this month or next. In

April, Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget request asked for $715 billion for the Pentagon, a slight decrease from current levels when adjusted for inflation, Defense News reported. A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters in April that “certainly shipbuilding is going to be something the Secretary [of Defense] will be focused on.”

New London lands in the district of U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, who leads a House Armed Services subcommittee that oversees U.S. naval and seapower. He will attend Biden’s speech Wednesday.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Tuesday appointed Courtney to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Annual Board of Visitors, a group that makes recommendations on the operations of the academy.

Biden is expected to make his speech at the Academy shortly before noon Wednesday. The White House has not announced any other stops in the state.

Getty Images President Joe Biden, shown Tuesday in Detroit, is expected in Connecticut on Wednesday.