Vice President Joe Biden is coming to Vermont next Thursday at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt.
Biden is scheduled to visit the University of Vermont Medical Center to discuss his involvement with the Cancer Moonshot project, an initiative to accelerate research into curing the disease. Biden’s son, Beau, [died last year of brain cancer at the age of 46], and President Barack Obama tasked Biden with leading the charge for a cure in his 2016 State of the Union address
Besides his UVM appearance, Biden is also is also expected to campaign and fundraise for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton while in Vermont.
The vice president is scheduled to attend a fundraiser Thursday evening at a private residence in Addison County. Tickets to the event, which include dinner, cost $5,000 per person, and all the funds will go to Clinton’s campaign committee.
Leahy spokesman David Carle said Biden and Leahy won’t be holding any campaign events together.
Republican Scott Milne, who is running against Leahy, blasted the announcement as further proof of the senior senator’s close ties to Washington insiders.
“Sen. Leahy and Vice President Biden have spent the past 42 years together in Washington, and they both supported Hillary Clinton against Bernie, so it is not surprising that they would be campaigning together,” Milne said in a statement.
Biden visited Vermont in 2010 to campaign for Gov. Peter Shumlin’s first election.
