First Lady Jill Biden is kicking off summer with headlining her husband’s campaign events in New York and California.
With the 2024 presidential election more than a year away, the first lady will make her first solo outing during the campaign starting Monday during a three-day fundraiser in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Most of her time will be spent at four political events, including two in the Bay Area, California, in support of her husband’s re-election, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic State Committee.
Biden, 72, will also attend an event in Los Angeles to mark the 30th anniversary of the Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun nonprofit led by Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords was shot in the head in 2011.
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First Lady Jill Biden will embark on her first solo outing of the 2024 campaign season during a three-day fundraising series that begins Monday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
Biden’s event will be his first after his comments at Thursday’s event didn’t get the response he was hoping for.
“I visited red states and blue states and found that the common values that unite us are deeper than our divisions,” Mr. Biden said before pausing.
When the crowd didn’t react enthusiastically, the First Lady added, “I thought you’d applaud then.”
The crowd immediately applauded, and it was widely compared to Jeb Bush’s gaffe when he urged the crowd to “please clap” during the 2016 presidential election.
The first lady’s re-election campaign event will be the first since last week’s comments following the lack of applause were compared to similar comments made by Jeb Bush during the 2016 presidential election. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Biden, who also works as an English professor at a community college, urged the public to prioritize voting in the 2024 presidential election at various events last year.
“Like many educators, I use a to-do list to stay organized,” she said. “In other words, where your vote falls on the to-do list will determine whether you win or lose this election.”
Biden will then urge the vote to be at the top of the to-do list.
Senior campaign adviser Elizabeth Alexander, who previously served as Jill Biden’s public relations officer, said the first lady, who simply refers to herself as “Jill,” is popular and will continue to be a “formidable presence” in the campaign. said it would.
“She will continue to be a formidable presence in stumps, just as she has been in all her husband’s presidential campaigns,” said Alexander. “Her warmth and friendliness, combined with her experience as a classroom teacher for over 30 years, make her an effective messenger in her campaign.”
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Democratic consultants and pollsters say voters see her as kind and approachable, and the first lady has been described as one of her husband’s most powerful assets.
“Some people go to the president’s fundraiser because they need it, regardless of the quote,” Democratic campaign strategist Bob Mulholland told the Associated Press. “People go to Jill Biden’s fundraiser because they want to hear her story from her.”
First Lady Jill Biden, right, meets with fourth and fifth graders from the Allegheny Traditional Academy of Pittsburgh Public Schools after visiting and addressing the American Teachers’ Federation headquarters in Pittsburgh to support local candidates November 2, 2022. ). (AP Photo/Gene J. Pusker)
Mulholland added, “As a teacher, she knows how to listen and single out people she thinks need special attention or special conversation.”
Bay Area venture capitalist Steve Westley, who raised money for Biden in previous campaigns, added, “Everyone who has met this woman loves her.”
He also described Jill Biden as “the most sincere, sunny, warmhearted, kind person I’ve ever met. She exudes just that.”
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Republican strategist Doug Hay said the president’s wife is generally liked by independent voters. He also suggested that she could provide a layer of protection for her president from her criticisms, as the Republicans risk scrutinizing her and subsequently drawing the ire of those who like her.
“When you criticize the First Lady, it can backfire,” Hay said.
Bay Area venture capitalist Steve Westley said First Lady Jill Biden is loved by everyone she meets. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The First Lady has become an accomplished public speaker over her husband’s decades of public service, and in the fall of 2022, she participated in nearly 40 campaigns and fundraising events.
However, her campaign has occasionally been controversial.
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The Biden team was criticized last year when Jill Biden compared Hispanic diversity to the taste of breakfast tacos.
The comment became a widely shared meme among Republicans and their supporters.
First Lady Jill Biden (center) has faced criticism in the past for bizarre remarks, such as comparing Hispanic diversity to breakfast tacos. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Earlier this year, she made another careless remark when encouraging the winners as well as the losers of the NCAA women’s basketball finals to come to the White House. The idea was widely criticized and never materialized.
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Jill Biden previously told The Associated Press that her husband “isn’t done yet” and has more to accomplish for the American people.
Biden is nine years younger than the president, who turns 81 in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
