FLOTUS: First Ladies of the United States

Jill Biden Part II

Role in 2020 presidential campaign

Regarding the much-discussed possibility of her husband running in the 2020 United States presidential election, Biden was a key participant in his decision-making process. By one report in March 2019, she was "enthusiastically" in favor of his running.

The Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign was officially announced on April 25, 2019. A Town and Country magazine headline declared that "Jill Biden Might Just Be Joe Biden's Greatest Political Asset".

Days later, Biden addressed the matter of women who had accused her husband of physical contact that had made them feel uncomfortable by saying, "I think what you don't realize is how many people approach Joe. Men and women, looking for comfort or empathy. But going forward, I think he's gonna have to judge – be a better judge – of when people approach him, how he's going to react. That he maybe shouldn't approach them." She said she had experienced male intrusion on personal space herself: "I just sorta stepped aside. I didn't address it. ... Things have changed. There was a time when women were afraid to speak out. I can remember specifically it was in a job interview ... if that same thing happened today, I'd turn around and say, 'What do you think you're doin'?' ... it's totally different." She also attracted attention by saying "it's time to move on" concerning her husband's role in 1991 regarding Anita Hill and the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination.

Biden continued to teach at NOVA during 2019, at one point telling a reporter, "I'm here grading research papers in between interviews." She staged appearances without her husband in early contest states such as Iowa, in some cases accompanied by a granddaughter. She attracted notice during one campaign stop in New Hampshire when she emphasized the electability argument in favor of her husband, saying, "you know, your candidate might be better on, I don't know, health care, than Joe is, but you've got to look at who's going to win this election, and maybe you have to swallow a little bit and say, 'OK, I personally like so-and-so better,' but your bottom line has to be that we have to beat Trump."

Once Hunter Biden became a Republican political focus during the Trump–Ukraine scandal, she was outspoken: "Hunter did nothing wrong. And that's the bottom line." The strain of the subsequent impeachment trial was enough to fracture a friendship she had with South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who repeatedly called for Hunter Biden to be questioned as a witness at the trial.

Biden played a more active role in this presidential campaign than she had in her husband's two prior ones, and for the first time, Biden reluctantly took a leave of absence from NOVA for the spring 2020 semester so she could be on the campaign trail full-time. She took training in online teaching once the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States struck. She indicated that she intended to resume teaching at NOVA even if her husband were to be elected.

In the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses, she sometimes staged more campaign appearances in that state than her husband did. She gave out her campaign e-mail address to voters in case they wanted to ask her follow-up questions. In joint appearances, she sometimes spoke after he did, acting in the "closer" role. After experiencing a number of victories around the nation, she gained some media attention at the March 3 Super Tuesday primaries during her husband's speech when she physically blocked a protester from getting at him. Asked about the stiff-arm she employed, she said, "I'm a good Philly girl."

With her husband having become the presumptive Democratic nominee, in June 2020, she published the children's book Joey: The Story of Joe Biden, which portrayed him as having been "brave and adventurous" as a child despite having a stutter he was bullied for. In July 2020, she spoke out about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, appearing in a video with her husband to emphasize that she understands the frustration with virtual education substitutes: "Schools and parents alike want a clear, science-based strategy, not mixed messages and ultimatums." She criticized U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for what she saw as political motivations in advocating a reopening of schools no matter what and said that "the first thing [Joe Biden]'s going to do is pick a secretary of education, who is a public school educator and has experience in the classroom. I mean I hear that, again and again and again – no more Betsy DeVos."