Jill Biden pitches the benefits of age on the campaign trail
By Arlette Saenz, CNN
(CNN) — First lady Dr. Jill Biden is hitting the campaign trail on a double mission this week, courting older voters to support her husband’s reelection bid while also tackling voters’ concerns about his age.
“This isn’t just about stopping an extremist, and this election is most certainly not about age,” the first lady said at an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin. “Joe and that other guy are essentially the same age. Let’s not be fooled. But what this election is about, it’s about the character of the person leading our country.”
“Joe Biden is a healthy, wise 81-year-old ready and willing to work for you every day to make our future better,” she added. “Joe isn’t one of the most effective presidents of our lives in spite of his age, but because of it.”
Her remarks came at her first stop of a three-day campaign swing through Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Nevada and Arizona. The campaign has deployed the first lady to help boost support among older voters, a group that has typically voted Republican in presidential elections but has shifted toward President Joe Biden in this year’s contest.
Age has proven to be an inescapable issue in the rematch between two seniors – Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, who turned 78 on Friday. But the first lady is using her unique position as a spouse of the oldest president in US history and a senior herself – she turned 73 last week – to speak of the benefits of aging and appeal to an important voting bloc.
“The woman I am today is wiser, stronger, more insightful and more confident than I was all those years ago,” she said. “Every line on my face has been earned by the furrowed brows of difficult decisions made. By the sun of countless roads traveled, by the sweet strain of deep laughter with the people I love. Age is a gift.”
The first lady has emerged as perhaps the most active surrogate for her husband’s campaign. She’s jetted around the country for political events and fundraisers in the past year while juggling her duties at the White House and in the classroom. Her campaign schedule is expected to pick up even more in the summer months and heading into the fall.
Dr. Biden also has fully embraced a role as a forceful critic of her husband’s predecessor.
“Make no mistake, Donald Trump is dangerous to our livelihoods, to our security, and the future of our country,” the first lady said in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
She’s lambasted Trump over his treatment of women and his stance on reproductive rights. In an interview with ABC’s “The View” last month, she spoke starkly of the contest between her husband and his predecessor, arguing voters will “choose good over evil” in November.
This week’s campaign push comes as Dr. Biden continues to balance her responsibilities as a top surrogate for her husband’s campaign with her role as a key support system for her family as they grapple with the legal and emotional fallout from her son Hunter Biden’s conviction on three felony gun charges.
The first lady devoted much of the past week and a half to providing in-person support for her son. She sat a few feet behind Hunter in the courtroom through most of the trial as the sordid details of his struggles with addiction and a turbulent period in the family’s history were aired out in a Wilmington, Delaware, courtroom.
After less than three hours of deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all three charges on Tuesday, a chain of events that moved with such speed that the first lady did not make it to court in time to hear the decision read. Dr. Biden arrived within minutes, and after meeting with her son, family and allies inside the courthouse, she walked out of the building hand-in-hand with Hunter in a public show of solidarity.
President Biden made a last minute trip to Wilmington a few hours later to be at his family’s side, tightly embracing his only living son on the tarmac shortly after Marine One touched down in Delaware.
“Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that,” the president said in a statement after the verdict was announced.
The first lady has yet to comment on Hunter’s conviction and is unlikely to discuss it unprompted. Instead, she’ll spend the next few days trying to keep the focus on her work to reelect her husband.
The first lady’s travel this week is part of the campaign rollout of “Seniors for Biden,” an organizing effort aimed at turning out voters 65 and older.
Trump won voters 65 or older by five percentage points in 2020, according to CNN exit polls. But recent surveys have shown a swing in support among older voters toward Biden. At the same time, the campaign’s efforts to draw in seniors come amid signs of a narrowing of the president’s support in other key parts of his coalition, including young, Black and Latino voters.
The first lady kicked off her swing Thursday with stops in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota. On Friday, she’ll speak at another seniors-focused event in Reno, Nevada, with actress and activist Jane Fonda, and attend a fundraiser in Los Gatos, California. She’ll continue the swing on Saturday with an event in Phoenix, Arizona.
Advisers believe the president’s pitch on strengthening Social Security and Medicare and lowering prescription drug costs along with the need to protect democracy resonates with older voters as they make their contrast arguments against Trump.
The Biden campaign is looking for creative ways to mobilize those voters over the age of 65 heading into November. They’ve organized pickleball tournaments, bingo games, pancake breakfasts and ice cream socials across key states this week.
The first lady is betting those efforts will pay off.
“No, we cannot be defined by a number. And when people underestimate us, they do it at their own risk,” the first lady said in Duluth on Thursday. “Let’s show what these years can do.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
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