Global Courant
First Lady Jill Biden kicks off the summer by headlining campaign events for her husband in New York and California.
With the 2024 presidential election more than a year away, starting Monday, the first lady will perform her first solo outings of the campaign season during a three-day fundraising series in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Most of her time will be spent at four political events, including two in California’s Bay Area, helping her husband run for reelection, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic party committees.
Biden, 72, will also join Gabrielle Giffords at an event in Los Angeles to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Giffords Law Center, a nonprofit against gun violence spearheaded by the former congresswoman. Giffords was shot in the head in 2011.
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First Lady Jill Biden will embark on her first solo outings of the 2024 campaign season during a three-day fundraising series starting Monday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Biden’s events will be her first since a comment made at an event Thursday didn’t get the response she expected.
“I’ve visited red states and blue states, and I’ve found that the common values that unite us run deeper than our divisions,” Biden said before pausing.
When the audience was unenthusiastic, the first lady added, “I thought you’d applaud for that.”
The crowd promptly clapped, earning widespread comparison to Jeb Bush’s blunder in the 2016 presidential election when he urged a crowd to “please clap.”
The events in the first lady’s re-election campaign will be her first since a comment last week after the lack of applause prompted a comparison to a similar comment by Jeb Bush in the 2016 presidential election. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Biden, who also works as an English professor at the community college, urged several events last year to prioritize voting in the 2024 presidential election.
“Like many teachers, I use to-do lists to stay organized,” she said. “So this election is won or lost by where voting is on your to-do list.”
Biden would then insist, “Put voting at the top of your to-do list.”
Elizabeth Alexander, a senior campaign adviser who previously served as Jill Biden’s director of communications, said the first lady — who introduces herself simply as “Jill” — is loved and will continue to be a “formidable presence” on the campaign trail.
“As she has been through all of her husband’s presidential campaigns, she will continue to be a formidable presence on the stump,” Alexander said. “Her warmth and approachability, combined with her more than 30 years as a classroom teacher, make her an effective messenger on the campaign trail.”
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The first lady has been described as one of her husband’s strongest assets, as Democratic advisers and pollsters say voters view her as friendly and relatable.
“Some people go to presidential fundraisers because, quote, don’t quote, it’s necessary,” Bob Mulholland, a Democratic campaign strategist, told The Associated Press. “People go to Jill Biden’s fundraisers because they want to hear from her.”
First Lady Jill Biden, right, meets fourth and fifth graders from Pittsburgh Public Schools Allegheny Traditional Academy after speaking while visiting the American Federation of Teacher’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, supporting local candidates, Nov. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Mulholland added, “As a teacher, she knows how to listen and pick out people she thinks need extra attention or an extra conversation.”
Steve Westly, a Bay Area venture capitalist who has raised money for Biden in past campaigns, added, “Everyone who meets this woman loves her.”
He also described Jill Biden as the “most genuine, sunny, warm-hearted, kind person you will ever meet. She just exudes that.”
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Republican strategist Doug Heye said presidents’ wives are generally liked by independent voters. He also suggested that she may provide the president with a layer of protection from criticism, as Republicans risk scrutinizing her and then drawing ire from those who like her.
“If you criticize the first lady, it can backfire,” Heye said.
Bay Area venture capitalist Steve Westly said First Lady Jill Biden is loved by all who meet her. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The first lady has become a seasoned public speaker through her husband’s decades of public service, participating in nearly 40 campaign and fundraising events in the fall of 2022.
However, her campaigns have occasionally sparked some controversy.
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The Biden team was criticized last year after Jill Biden compared the diversity of Hispanics to the taste of breakfast tacos.
The comment became a meme widely shared by the Republican Party and its supporters.
First Lady Jill Biden, center, has faced criticism in the past for outlandish comments, including her comparison of Hispanic people’s diversity to breakfast tacos. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Earlier this year, she made another offhand comment when she encouraged the losers of the NCAA women’s basketball finals to come to the White House alongside the winners. The idea was widely criticized and never materialized.
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Jill Biden previously told The Associated Press that her husband is “not done” and wants to do more for the American people.
Biden is nine years younger than the president, who will turn 81 in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
