Jill Biden takes on new surrogate role with first campaign swing for Harris

By Arlette Saenz, CNN

Washington (CNN) — First lady Dr. Jill Biden is preparing to step into a new role as a campaign surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris, kicking off a five-state, five-day swing through battleground states later this week, a source familiar with the plans told CNN.

The campaign push beginning Friday will take the first lady out west to Arizona and Nevada and through the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The Harris team is deploying the first lady to smaller, targeted markets to court undecided voters and to city suburbs as they look to mobilize women voters with less than a month until the election, the source said.

The return to the campaign trail marks a new phase of the first lady’s long time role as a top Democratic surrogate. It comes more than two months after her husband, President Joe Biden, ended his own reelection bid after fellow Democrats privately and openly questioned his ability to win a second term – a difficult period for their family in his more than five decades in politics.

The first lady, a fierce supporter and defender of the president’s campaign for a second term up until his decision to withdraw on July 21, has largely stayed out of the political fray since that moment. She introduced her husband at the Democratic National Convention in August and expressed her support for Harris, who her late son Beau Biden worked with as a state attorney general.

“We have seen her courage, her determination, and her leadership up close,” Jill Biden said. “Kamala and Tim, you will win, and you are inspiring a new generation.”

In September, she teamed up with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour for a non-partisan “Fashion for Our Future” event on the sidelines of New York Fashion Week in New York City to encourage attendees to use their voices at the ballot box in November.

But the first lady’s efforts will now become more overtly political as she prepares to make the case for Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a fellow educator, in key swing states.

Jill Biden has long been a forceful critic of former President Donald Trump, painting him as a threat to issues like democracy and reproductive rights, one of the animating issues for her in this campaign.

Her battleground tour from Friday to Tuesday coincides with fall break at the community college where she continues to teach. She will likely be on the campaign trail again in the final stretch of the election for get out the vote efforts, sources familiar with her plans said.

The first lady will start her upcoming campaign tour near the US-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona, on Friday before campaigning in the Phoenix suburbs on Saturday. She’ll then speak to voters in Carson City and Reno, Nevada, on Sunday before heading out to the Detroit suburbs in Michigan and Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday.

Jill Biden will round out the swing in the suburbs of Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Her deployments on behalf of Harris are similar to how she was utilized during her husband’s campaign and for Democrats in the 2022 midterms. Harris’ campaign believes there is a fair amount of undecided voters in areas like Yuma, Carson City and Reno that the first lady can try to reach.

She’s also expected to appeal to suburban women on issues like lowering household costs, reproductive rights and education, a personal passion of the first lady.

“As a teacher, mom, and grandmother, the first lady will connect with key constituencies across the country and speak to Vice President Harris’ vision for America,” said Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “Dr. Biden’s trusted voice will be crucial in mobilizing the voters we need to win in November.”

The first lady has spoken only sparingly about her husband’s decision to drop out of the 2024 race. In an interview with NBC News last month, Jill Biden said she and her husband were “totally at peace” with the decision.

“I’m just so used to seeing Joe work in government, and I think it’s always been a role that he’s had and played, and I think he’ll miss it, but I think he’s done a great job,” she said.

As she introduced him at the Democratic National Convention, the first lady noted, “There are moments when I fall in love with him all over again.” Dr. Biden added she experienced that again, “weeks ago, when I saw him dig deep into his soul, and decide to no longer seek reelection and endorse Kamala Harris.”

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