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Monday's visit was the Tampa Bay team's
first-ever visit to the White House to celebrate a Stanley Cup
championship win.
The team was unable to visit the White House earlier to
celebrate their 2020 and 2021 wins due to COVID-19 concerns. The
team's 2004 victory, the Lightning's first-ever Stanley Cup win,
was not celebrated by then-President George W. Bush amid an NHL
labor dispute.
Monday's event offered Biden, a big hockey fan who roots for the
Philadelphia Flyers, a chance to continue his outreach to
Floridians even as their Republican governor, Ron DeSantis,
leads an attack on federal education oversight and LGBTQ rights
that Biden and Democrats support.
"At the risk of stating the obvious here, it's a pretty good
time to be a sports fan in Tampa," said Biden, wearing his
signature aviator sunglasses.
Biden noted that first lady Jill Biden had been on hand for a
Lightning playoff game.
"I'm just saying she was there during the election season as
well. She tends to show up when people win. Just something to
think about," he said.
Jeff Vinik, the team's owner, said she was welcome to come back
when this year's playoffs start next month. He added that Biden
could come too, and he'd even waive a "no talking" rule in place
when the puck was in play.
DeSantis, who is trying to bolster his conservative credentials
ahead of a possible run for the 2024 Republican presidential
nomination, last week took on Walt Disney Co. after the company
expressed its opposition to a new state law limiting discussion
of LGBTQ issues in schools.
Florida was one of five states where former President Donald
Trump received a larger percentage of the 2020 vote than he did
in 2016.
Biden has frequently used sports to try to connect with a broad
swath of Americans as the Republican party pushes a more
divisive message. Biden, an avowed sports fan, has hosted
professional baseball, basketball and football teams at the
White House as well.
The Lightning's victories in 2020 and 2021 made the team only
the third back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in the last quarter
century.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Steve
Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons and Mark Porter)
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