Biden leans on first lady as campaign struggles to stay afloat

Jill Biden is helping the president shoulder the burden of reviving his floundering presidential campaign following a disastrous debate performance that has sparked calls for him to drop out.

This week alone, the first lady has traveled to three states, launched a new military outreach program, and phoned into a press call to defend the president’s viability against former President Donald Trump.

The first lady had been on the trail before the presidential debate two weeks ago, in which President Joe Biden at times struggled to form sentences, and is far from his only surrogate. But the role his family has played in the campaign, including their insistence that he stay in the race, has stood in contrast to the growing number of party operatives and lawmakers casting doubt that he can win in November.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) became the first sitting Democratic senator Wednesday to call on the president to exit the race. Actor George Clooney, a longtime Democratic donor, similarly argued in an op-ed that the Joe Biden he fundraised for just weeks ago was not the same man who ran for president in 2020, let alone the Joe Biden that Clooney knew as vice president.

Jill Biden has been among the most active Democrats attempting to rebut that message. On Monday, she traveled to Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina to launch the Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris outreach program.

“For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in. That’s the decision he’s made. And just as he has always supported my career, I am all in too. I know you are too or you wouldn’t be here today,” the first lady said onstage in Wilmington, North Carolina. “I want you to remember what it felt like on the morning after the 2016 election when we fell short. Remember that feeling, how you woke up and you said to yourself, ‘Oh my God, what just happened?’ We can’t let that happen again. I don’t want to wake up with that feeling.”

However, a brief exchange she had with reporters in Florida stole all the headlines from that trip.

After exiting a coffee shop in Tampa, the first lady stopped to reproach a group of reporters questioning her about Joe Biden’s candidacy. “Why are you screaming at me? You know me,” she stated before departing without answering questions. “Don’t scream at me. Just talk.”

The following day, Jill Biden took part in an on-the-record call with other Biden campaign officials to contrast the president’s stance on abortion access with that of Trump. The first lady, again, delivered brief remarks but did not stay on the line for the Q&A portion of the call.

“As I mentioned at the top of the call, Dr. Biden was only staying on for her remarks because she leaves us in between meetings,” a campaign official told reporters when fielding a question directed at the first lady regarding her continued backing of Joe Biden’s bid.

“You know, I think the thing that I would just say here is President Biden has made it very clear that he is staying in the race,” the official continued. “It was one 90-minute debate. He’s proven time and time again that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump. He beat him in 2020. He’s going to beat him again.”

During Tuesday’s press briefing, the White House also faced questions over Jill Biden’s role in the West Wing and campaign, ranging from her reported presence in meetings with Joe Biden and top administration officials to her personal handling of the president’s health.

In each instance, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave curt responses in attempts to close the lines of inquiry.

“The president is the president of the United States. He makes the decision,” she stated when asked if Jill Biden is advising the president on policy matters.

“He has a team that lets him know of any news that is pertinent and important to the American people,” Jean-Pierre added when asked if administration officials call the first lady late in the evening to deliver “bad news” on behalf of the president.

“He has someone, that is decided obviously with his National Security Council, who gets to tell him bad news,” she continued.

A spokesperson of the first lady, for her part, has previously pushed back on suggestions that Jill Biden gets special treatment in the White House following a report that she apparently has her own “Hail to the Chief”-style entrance theme courtesy of the Marine Corps band.

Asked for comment on this story, the Biden campaign simply referenced the first lady’s remarks from earlier this week, while Democratic operatives inside Joe Biden’s orbit previously told the Washington Examiner that Jill Biden’s presence and counsel on the campaign trail are an asset to the president, especially when compared with former first lady Melania Trump’s relative absence from Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign stops.

“Where’s Melania? Not out supporting her husband, who she clearly hates,” a veteran Democratic strategist said. “Jill Biden’s presence is an asset to the campaign but also a rock on which President Biden can rely for both personal and political advice. She’s the exact type of partner this nation needs in the White House.”

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Her presence has not been lost on Republicans, including Donald Trump, who have started targeting Jill Biden more in the days following the first debate.

At a campaign rally of his own on Tuesday, Donald Trump casually alleged to thousands of his supporters that Jill Biden and her son, Hunter Biden, are secretly running the country instead of the president.