What rift? Jill Biden explains how shes bonded with Harris amid reports of a rift between the White House and campaign
Jill Biden may have felt betrayed by the Democrats when her husband made the devastating decision to drop out of the race.
Jill Biden may have felt betrayed by the Democrats when her husband made the devastating decision to drop out of the race.
But the first lady put any lingering anger aside to campaign for his replacement, Kamala Harris, in areas where the vice president may not have been welcome.
Her trip to rural areas across battleground states came before Michelle Obama has stepped onto the campaign trail, but at a crucial time with polls showing the momentum with Donald Trump.
The campaign swing also comes amid talk of renewed tension between the Biden and Harris wings of the White House with a report in Axios saying things are getting worse as the election gets closer.
But any hint of friction was brushed aside as Jill Biden told crowds how she has bonded with Harris - especially other the deaths of their mothers from cancer.
First lady Jill Biden greets supporters after speaking during a campaign stop in Madison, Wis.
In places like Yuma, Arizona – near the border with Mexico; Carson City, Nevada – 400 miles from the lights of Las Vegas; and the suburbs of Detroit and Philadelphia,
Jill Biden is a more popular figure than the vice president and she used her personal appeal to make the case for a Harris presidency.
She defined Harris in personal terms and defended the Democratic nominee against lies and conspiracy theories being told about her.
The first lady is an exceptional retail campaigner because, as someone more accurately described her, shes just a relentless charm machine, said Michael LaRosa, Jill Bidens former East Wing press secretary and traveling spokesman throughout the 2020 campaign.
Shes a talented surrogate and messenger in her right because she has this every man or every woman affect to her communication style that isnt overly polished or robotic - its just her.
Biden used that charm to woo voters in areas where Harris is struggling.
Trump is leading the Democratic nominee in Arizona and in the four other states – Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – the race is a virtual tie.
We are incredibly grateful to have Dr. Biden campaigning for Vice President Harris in the states and communities that will decide this election. From Reno to the Philly suburbs, she has connected with voters and generated wall-to-wall coverage, all driving the stakes of this election for womens freedoms and the economy, a Harris campaign spokesperson said.
And while her events – at times – ran on the small side, there was heavy local media coverage with the first lady dominating the evening news and the front pages of the morning papers.
That kind of free local media coverage is priceless in the final weeks of a presidential campaign.
The trip marked the first time Jill Biden campaigned for Kamala Harris and, from the way the first lady described the Harris she knew, there were no hints to the tension between the two that marked the early years of the Biden administration.
Bidens stops were mapped out by the Harris campaign with a deliberate calculation in mind.
The first lady was sent to areas where there is a significant amount of persuadable voters, the campaign noted.
And she specifically calibrated her message to reach undecided voters and persuadable women in suburban areas where Democrats must run up the score.
The states had other things in common: Joe Biden won all five by narrow margins in the 2020 election against Trump and all five states have competitive Senate contests that will decide which party controls that chamber next year.
In two days worth stops in Arizona, where Biden visited Yuma, which had yet to see a Harris campaign surrogate, and Phoenix – the first lady argued for the Democratic ticket and reminded voters that Proposition 139 was on the ballot.
It is an amendment to the Arizona Constitution to add a fundamental right to abortion.
Her stops there also came the day before Trump held a big rally in Prescott, Ariz., giving Biden the chance to make the case for Harris before the former president was on the ground.
In Nevada, she charmed supporters in Carson City and Reno, where local television cameras followed her every move.
In Detroit, she got in a swipe at Trump.
Some have come to Detroit area recently and thrown around some insults. But from what Ive seen, this is a vibrant, thriving city, she said to cheers.
At the Detroit economic club last week, Trump insulted both Harris and Detroit when he said: The whole country will be like — you want to know the truth? Itll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if shes your president.
Jill Biden made her first campaign stop for Kamala Harris, rallying voters in Arizona
In Wisconsin, Biden reminded voters to vote early and, in Philadelphia, she worked the phone banks along with volunteers to get out the vote for Harris.
The first lady was an enthusiastic campaigner for President Joe Biden but, after he dropped out of the race at the end of July, she kept a low profile, only appearing at the Democratic National Convention.
But she vowed to be out on the trail now for Harris.
I will be campaigning, she told people in Detroit. I am campaigning all over the country. If there is something on your mind or something you think I should say to voters that youre hearing, tell me.
Her message was the same in each of the five states she visited for Harris: Criticizing Trump for his role in overturning Roe vs. Wade and painting him as greedy and selfish.
She also put on her teacher cap when she spoke to volunteers and organizers, telling them to remind voters that Harris was working to lower the prices of groceries, help Americans buy homes and restore abortion rights.
She touted get-out-the-vote efforts, reminding voters in each state when early vote starts and urging them to get their ballot cast.
She also pushed aside reports that there were tension between her and Harris in the early days in the Biden administration after Harris went after Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries, to talk about the Harris she has gotten to know.
As Kamala and I have gotten to know each other these past four years, you know, we bonded over many things, but one of the things that we talked about is how we lost our mothers, both to cancer, both long before we were done needing them, the first lady said.
She painted a more compassionate picture of Harris, talking of how the vice president cherishes a recipe from her mother and how she has fought for women her entire life.
Reproductive rights were a particular focus of Bidens trip. Democrats see it as a winning issue to motivate their base.
And it got Biden some of her biggest applause when she told voters: No one has to abandon their faith or their deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.
Jill Biden made her final campaign stop in Philadelphia and caught a ride back to the White House with President Joe Biden on Air Force One
But the trips served as a thank you too, a chance for the first lady to express her gratitude to Democrats for their support throughout the Bidens 50 years in public life.
And Democrats offered their thanks too.
When Biden said the country deserves leaders like my husband and Kamala Harris the crowd burst into applause, shouting back: thank you Joe. Thank you Joe.
The first lady looked touched.
Thank you, she said. I will take that home to him.
