First Lady Jill Biden on Monday embarked on a tour of battleground states to tout a new initiative aimed at boosting outreach among veterans and military families in an effort to boost her husband’s reelection bid.

What You Need To Know

  • First Lady Jill Biden traveled to North Carolina, Florida and Georgia on Monday to tout a new initiative aimed at boosting outreach among veterans and military families in an effort to boost her husband’s reelection bid

  • The program, Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris, aims to "engage and mobilize millions of veterans and military families across the country through battleground state events, relational organizing and online engagement"

  • The first lady’s barnstorming campaign trip comes amid calls from some Democrats for her husband to step aside as the party’s nominee after his shaky performance in last week’s presidential debate

  • President Biden has repeatedly insisted that he is staying in the race, most recently on Monday when he sent a letter to Democrats in Congress that he is “firmly committed to staying in the race” and called for the recent intraparty drama “to end"

Dr. Biden is celebrating the launch of Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris with a one-day, three-state swing through Florida, North Carolina and Georgia — three states with large populations of veterans and military families, as well as three battlegrounds that could propel President Joe Biden to victory in November over former President Donald Trump.

At her first event in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Monday, Dr. Biden echoed her husband's oft-used refrain that the country's most "sacred obligation" is to its service members and their families.

"Four years ago, Joe went from being a military father to being commander in chief," she said, referencing their son Beau, who served in Iraq as part of the Delaware Army National Guard. "It's a responsibility he stepped into with pride, because, as Joe reminds everyone, any chance he gets, our U.S. military is the finest fighting military force in the history of the world. Of all the obligations that Joe has shouldered since he took his oath of office, he believes the only truly one sacred obligation is to prepare those we send into harm's way, and to care for them and their families when they come home."

She went on to highlight a number of pro-military and veteran initiatives that the Democratic president has undertaken during his first term, including signing into law the PACT Act, a landmark law that expands toxic exposure benefits for veterans, and ending the war in Afghanistan.

"As commander in chief, President Biden wakes up every morning ready to work for you," the first lady said. "That's what this election is all about: You. For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he's all in."

The first lady’s barnstorming campaign trip comes amid calls from some Democrats for her husband to step aside as the party’s nominee after his shaky performance in last week’s presidential debate. President Biden has repeatedly insisted that he is staying in the race, most recently on Monday when he sent a letter to Democrats in Congress that he is “firmly committed to staying in the race” and called for the recent intraparty drama “to end.”

Dr. Biden — whose father was a Navy signalman in World War II — was also scheduled to visit Tampa, Florida, and Columbus, Georgia, on Monday as part of her three-state swing. She stopped at a local coffee shop in Tampa ahead of her event with Mayor Jane Castor ahead of the event. 

The campaign also said it will hold events in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Nashua, New Hampshire, and Erie, Harrisburg and Pittston, Pennsylvania.

“Our veterans and military families are the brave and the bold—who step forward for all of us,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “They deserve a commander in chief who respects their bravery and understands personally their sacrifice—not one who denigrates them for being willing to put their lives on the line for our democracy.”

Rodriguez’s swipe at the president refers to reports that Trump repeatedly insulted wounded veterans, dead American soldiers who fought in World War I and U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. John Kelly, who served in Trump’s administration as his chief of staff, confirmed in an interview last year a report from The Atlantic that Trump in 2018 did not want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried in France because they were “losers.” Trump has repeatedly denied making those remarks.

Dr. Biden also referenced those reported remarks on Monday.

"He disparages those who sacrificed for this country. His own chief of staff said he called POWs and those who died in war losers and suckers," she said to boos from the crowd. "Yes, he said he didn't want to be seen with injured veterans because it didn't look good for him. It's disgraceful, but it's not surprising. Donald Trump wakes up every morning thinking about one person and one person only, himself."

Rodriguez said that the new initiative — which the campaign said “will engage and mobilize millions of veterans and military families across the country through battleground state events, relational organizing and online engagement” — will help contrast the records of Biden and Trump when it comes to fighting for members of the military and veterans.

"We know what Donald Trump was like as commander in chief," Dr. Biden said Monday. "He dismissed the military community and diminished America's leadership around the world, and it could be worse this time. He says he wants to become a dictator on day one. He's called the Jan. 6 insurrectionists great patriots. And last week the Supreme Court ruled that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. Our democracy cannot withstand a Trump presidency with virtually no limits."

"Members of our military honor their oath to support and defend the Constitution," she continued. "We cannot trust Donald Trump to do the same. The military community deserves better. You deserve a commander in chief who serves with integrity and wisdom and character. And that's my husband, Joe Biden."

Dr. Biden closed by calling on those gathered to do more to help emphasize the stakes of November's election to their loved ones.

"We can't take anything for granted," she said. "We have to meet this moment as if our freedoms are at risk, because they are. America's leadership in the world hangs in the balance, because it does. As if our democracy is on the line, ecause it is. Today we are launching Veterans and Military Families for Biden, because we need you in this election. Talk to your friends and your families about what's at stake. Sign up for phone banks and canvassing shifts. And help us make sure that everyone in this community has the ballots they need to vote, no matter where they are stationed."

"Together we will win this," she concluded. "And together we will build an America that can always live up to the service and the sacrifice that you all make.