Jill Biden pitches for president’s reelection, highlighting his record on issues important to women

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In 2020, then-former second lady Jill Biden calls on Georgians to get to the polls and cast their votes. Now the current first lady returns to the state to campaign for Joe Biden.

Credit: Ross Williams / Georgia Recorder

Campaign season is officially in full swing in Georgia, where President Joe Biden is expected to pay a visit to the Atlanta area March 9, just over a week after first lady Jill Biden stopped by downtown Atlanta to launch a nationwide effort to engage with women voters. The White House has not yet released details about Joe Biden’s planned trip other than to say he will participate in campaign events.

Biden’s presumptive opponent, former President Donald Trump, has not yet announced any Georgia campaign stops, but his previous campaigns included large rallies in the state.

Jill Biden’s brief comments Friday, the first day of Women’s History Month, suggested Democrats view Georgia as an important part of the Biden strategy to continue occupying the White House.

“It’s no accident that Georgia is where we’ve chosen to launch Women for Biden, because four years ago, Georgia, you put us in the White House, and Joe and I will never forget,” she said.

Jill Biden enjoyed a warm welcome from the crowd of between 100 and 120, which was mostly women and included county party chairs and other party leaders.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s 2024 campaign manager, said part of the plan will be emphasizing messaging to women voters.

“This coalition will also highlight the clear choice that we have in this election, because we know that President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris continue to champion so many of the issues that we care about, from protecting our fundamental freedom to choose to ensuring safety in our schools to helping to protect the health care that we deserve,” she said.

Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in Georgia was the first time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state since Bill Clinton in 1992. Democrats said women, young people and people of color helped turn the state blue.

“You gave everything you had to make Joe Biden and Kamala Harris president and vice president,” Jill Biden told a crowd of supporters in a downtown event venue. “And we won by just 12,000 votes. Women put Joe Biden in the White House, and you know what? Women are going to do it again.”

Polls indicate Biden has some ground to regain if he is to make his wife’s prediction come true.

A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Feb. 29 found 45% of registered voters had a very unfavorable opinion of Joe Biden about eight months before the election, with another 13% holding a somewhat unfavorable opinion. Biden was seen as very favorable by 21% and somewhat favorable by 18%.

Most Georgians also have a low opinion of Trump, whose very unfavorable and somewhat unfavorable ratings were 40% and 12% respectively, but those who love him love him — 30% had a very favorable opinion and 16% said had a somewhat favorable opinion.

If the election were held last month, 45% of the respondents said they would have given their vote to Trump and 38% to Biden.

Georgia’s presidential preference primary is set for March 12 and early voting is underway.

Jill Biden said the two presumptive candidates’ records on women will help her husband clinch victory.

“(Joe Biden) spent his entire career lifting up women, but Donald Trump, he spent a lifetime tearing us down and devaluing our existence,” she said. “He mocks women’s bodies, disrespects our accomplishments, and brags about assault. Now he’s bragging about killing Roe v. Wade.”

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Georgia Recorder.