Biden fired up SD Democrats at McGovern Day Dinner
Look, former President Joe Biden knows he’s old. It’s not a news flash for him or the people who see him.
“I’ve been around a few years,” Biden told 1,200 people at the South Dakota Democratic Party’s annual McGovern Day Dinner in Sioux Falls Friday night.
Biden, 83, moved slowly and his voice was raspy at the start of his half-hour speech. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer in May 2025, the latest in a series of health issues that he has battled over the decades. They include an intracranial aneurysm, a pulmonary embolism and a second aneurysm in 1988 after he ended his first run for the White House in the wake of a plagiarism relegation.
He was diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2022. His mental acuity was questioned when he made confusing and awkward remarks. That’s nothing new for Biden, but he hasn’t let it stop him yet.
The oldest president ever showed signs of wear and tear Friday night. There also was a confusing start to his appearance.
When Biden was introduced by South Dakota Democratic Party Chair Shane Merrill, the crowd rose to welcome him. But, no Biden.
Merrill said they needed five more minutes.
“Little hitch in our giddy-up,” he said.
After a couple of minutes, he introduced Biden again, asking the crowd for more noise to greet the former president.
Biden appeared, smiling and waving. He explained why he would have to leave after his speech, saying he planned to attend the wedding of a family friend on Saturday morning. He is the bride’s godfather.
His wife Jill wasn’t along for the trip because she had a funeral to attend, the former president said. After that joyous start, he plunged into his speech.
“I do believe our democracy is at stake,” Biden said. It was a theme he would stress throughout his speech.
After thanking the elected officials who were present — being mostly South Dakota Democrats, there weren’t exactly a horde of them — Biden then spent a few minutes discussing his history with the Teamsters Union. It endorsed him in 2020, but did not issue one in the 2024 election. Teamsters Local 120 represents union members in South Dakota.
“I’ve been a union man all my life,” he said before noting he had never actually belonged to one. But his heart was with union workers, Biden said.
“The middle class built this country, not the wealthy,” he said. “And the unions built the middle class.”
After that comment, which drew cheers, Biden talked about his relationship with George McGovern, the patron saint of the state Democratic Party. They served in the Senate together for eight years, 1973-81, and were friends and political allies.
Biden spoke at McGovern’s prayer service on Oct. 25, 2012. There were several erroneous reports that he spoke at McGovern’s funeral the next day, but he was not present. I covered both.
“I admired him from the day I became aware of him to the day he died,” Biden said at the 2012 service. “I don’t know anybody who loved this country more than George McGovern.”
On Friday, he noted that his first campaign for the Senate was in 1972 when McGovern was the Democratic presidential nominee. Biden was just 29 when he was elected, turning the constitutionally mandated 30 a few weeks after the election.
McGovern lost in a landslide to President Richard Nixon. Like Biden, McGovern sought the presidency several times, running in 1968, 1972 and 1984, and considering a final campaign in 1992.
Biden tried for the Democratic nomination in 1988 and 2008, pondered a run in 2016, and finally grabbed the brass ring of American politics in 2020, defeating Donald Trump by almost 7 million votes.
Biden said he planned to serve as a “bridge” to a new generation of leaders, but he changed his mind and decided to seek a second term in 2024. That ended in disaster when a disquieting and alarming performance during a June debate with Trump forced him to quit the race.
It laid the groundwork for Trump, despite his many scandals and 34 felony convictions, regaining the White House.
While Trump rampages across the globe, starting wars, imposing tariffs that cause economic upheaval and spewing hatred in his seemingly endless unsocial media posts, Biden has kept a fairly low profile. His age and health explain part of that, and the fact that many Democrats blame him for Trump’s second term offer further reason for the 46th president to be out of sight.
But Biden is back. He said he is speaking at several state party dinners and the old campaigner seemed to relish being back in the fray. His voice grew stronger and louder as he hammered away at Trump.
Biden said he has been appalled by the financial windfalls the Trump family has benefited from in the last year and a half. Trump’s fixation on affixing his name on everything he can also is hard to accept.
“It’s not just that, it’s the corruption,” Biden said. “This is the most corrupt president in history of the United States.”
The crowd cheered in agreement.
The proposed $1.8-billion slush fund to reward Trump’s supporters, including those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, also drew Biden’s fire. Those people deserve to be incarcerated, not compensated, he said.
Voters are aware of it, he said.
Biden said Democrats are winning in special elections across the country and they will do well in November as well. He predicted Democratic wins “clearly, resoundingly and overwhelmingly.”
He urged South Dakota Democrats to keep fighting. The last time a Democrat was elected governor was 1974, when Biden was in his first Senate term representing Delaware. They last won a statewide election in 2008 when Biden was elected vice president as Barack Obama’s running mate.
He quoted his father, who advised him to never give up even when he was knocked down.
“Get up, just get up, Joey,” he was told.
It’s time to do just that to change the course of the country, Biden said. There’s no better place to start than in South Dakota, he said.
Biden said he has become aware of the benefits of age. A person can gain perspective and wisdom, he said. Those hard-earned assets come in handy when facing a challenging future, Biden said.
But, he said, that is the story of America: Peril and possibilities.
“It’s a battle,” he said. “It’s never really over.”
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: Grace Stack
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