First lady Jill Biden campaigned on Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, saying 'this election wil...
First lady Jill Biden campaigned on Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, saying 'this election will set a course for a year from now'.
It was the First Lady's first political trip of her husband’s presidency.
Jill Biden spoke at an early voting rally at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey, where Democratic Governor Phil Murphy is running against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, an ex-state Assembly member.
She later attended an evening event in suburban Richmond, Virginia, alongside Terry McAuliffe, a former governor who is running to regain the post and facing a tighter race than expected against Republican Glenn Youngkin, a businessman.
'We can't get complacent. We have to get to work,' she said in New Jersey.
Jill Biden was born in New Jersey and clapped on stage to 'It's My Life,' by New Jersey icon and President Biden supporter Jon Bon Jovi.
The loudest applause of the event came when Jill Biden joked, 'Heck, today's Friday. So go grab a beer and go vote.'
First lady Jill Biden gets a hug from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe during a rally in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday evening. McAuliffe will face Republican Glenn Youngkin in the November election
McAuliffe looks on as Jill Biden speaks during a rally in Richmond, Virginia on Friday - the first time that the first lady has been on the campaign trial since the election last year
Jill Biden cheers for McAuliffe on Friday evening at a rally in Richmond
Her husband Joe also weighed in on the gubernatorial race - but seemed to disagree with Jill by suggesting a loss in Virginia would not necessarily be a bellwether for the midterms.
Speaking in Connecticut, he said: 'Everybody understands and reads the two gubernatorial off-year elections as being a bellwether of what may happen,' the president said.
'Sometimes it's been right. Sometimes it's been wrong.
'I think Terry's going to win. If he doesn't win I don't know how much you read into that. But I think he'll win.'
Joe Biden is seen speaking to journalists outside Air Force One in Connecticut on Friday. His wife told the crowds at election rallies that the November vote was a vital bellwether for the midterms next year, but the president said he was not sure
The president was in Connecticut on Friday while his wife was in New Jersey and Virginia
Biden on Friday removes his facemask on the tarmac before addressing reporters
The First Lady's trip came as Democrats are eager to boost turnout for the off-year elections on November 2.
It marks the first time that she has been back on the campaign trial since stumping for her husband in last year's presidential campaign, and it underscores the political stakes for the White House.
In Virginia especially, which President Joe Biden won by a comfortable 10 percentage points last year, a defeat in the governor's race could spell trouble for Democrats in the 2022 midterms, when control of Congress is at risk of flipping to Republicans.
The president's approval ratings have fallen to some of the lowest levels of his White House tenure amid anxiety over possible shortages of goods, inflation, congressional fights over infrastructure and voting rights.
McAuliffe, 64, was governor from 2014-18. Under Virginia law, he could not run for re-election for a second term, and is now seeking to return to power after Ralph Northam sat in the governor's mansion
Jill Biden will be followed to Virginia by her husband, Barack Obama, and Stacey Abrams, in a sign of how seriously the race is being taken in the White House
The first lady capped her trip by addressing a crowd of about 300 at a grassroots mobilizing rally outside a recreation center in Henrico, Virginia.
She was twice interrupted by protesters who appeared to be decrying federal fossil fuel subsidies, and she said, laughing: 'You've gotta love democracy.'
'Virginia, you need somebody that you can trust, and that's Terry McAuliffe,' Jill Biden said.
She warned of misinformation becoming more prevalent online with Election Day looming, adding: 'There are a lot of people who like to twist the words around. But we know Terry. We know his heart.'
McAuliffe called Biden 'my very good friend' and said, 'I cannot tell you how much is at stake in this election.'
He called Youngkin a 'want-a-be' of former President Donald Trump.
McAuliffe said Joe Biden would be visiting Virginia in the coming days, as are former President Barack Obama and Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has risen to national prominence.
Jill Biden, pictured on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia, told voters: 'We know Terry. We know his heart'
In Jill Biden's role as first lady, she has regularly traveled the country - including to reliably red states - to promote such issues as improving public education and community college, reopening schools amid the pandemic and urging people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
She has also continued to teach writing and English at Northern Virginia Community College, where she's held a position since 2009 - the first first lady to leave the White House to log hours at a full-time job.
The first lady's travels came as the president spent Friday in Connecticut promoting a massive spending plan that Democrats are trying to muscle through Congress despite deep divisions within their own ranks over the final price tag.
Also on Friday, the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said it had filed an ethics complaint against White House press secretary Jen Psaki for a comment she made about McAuliffe from the briefing room.
In response to a reporter's question on Thursday about Virginia's election, Psaki said, 'We're going to do everything we can to help former Gov. McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing.'
After CREW filed its complaint, Psaki said in a CNN interview that she should have used the word 'he' instead of 'we' in response to the question.
In a statement, Psaki said she would 'choose my words more carefully moving forward.'
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