The president and vice president make hundreds of trips around the country annually and the Hudson Valley has been a premiere destination on more than one occasion. Since taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have visited the Hudson Valley half a dozen times.

On Oct. 5, 2022, Biden made his first official visit to the region as the president of the United States. He toured IBM's headquarters in Poughkeepsie to promote the CHIPS and Science Act that passed just a few months prior.

He said this part of the state had the potential to become a world leader in technology production.

"It's here now where the Hudson Valley could become the epicenter of the future of quantum computing; the most advanced and faster computer ever, ever seen in the world," he said.

A month later, on Nov. 6, 2022, just two days before the midterm election, Biden attended a get-out-the-vote rally with Gov. Kathy Hochul at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers.

His support was critical as pre-election polls showed Republicans making significant gains. Biden urged young people, including college students and first-time voters to make it to the polls.

"The American people worry about maintaining our democracy and we know that this is your generation's moment to defend it," he said.

Democrats fared better than expected though Republicans did flip enough seats to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that same cycle, Republicans Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro flipped two House seats.

On May 10, 2023, Biden became the first sitting president to visit SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla. He discussed the partisan standoff over the nation's debt. He also focused on the importance of unions, the middle class and education.

"Community college is the best-kept secret in America," he said.

Harris became the first woman to deliver the keynote address at the United States Military Academy at West Point three weeks later. She made the case that global prosperity depended on American strength.

"There is no more noble work that a person can do than to serve our nation in uniform," she said.

Twice this year Biden visited the Hudson Valley. First, he held a campaign fundraiser in Westchester on April 25, 2024, where he gave a 20-minute speech at the private, high-priced event at the Irvington home of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

One month later on May 25, 2024, he delivered the commencement address at West Point. It was his third time addressing graduates at the military academy including twice as the vice president in 2012 and 2016. He applauded the military's role in handling conflicts abroad.

"You're about to become full-time members of the most honorable and the most consequential fighting force in the history of the world," he said.

In total, a quarter of the president's 21 visits to New York since taking office have been right here in the Hudson Valley.