TAMPA, Fla, July 9, (AP): Jill Biden on Monday declared herself "all in” on US President Joe Biden's bid to remain as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, despite calls by some Democrats for him to drop out after his damaging debate performance against Donald Trump shook their confidence in him.
The president himself has brushed aside those calls and insisted anew on Monday that he isn't leaving the race.
"For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in,” the first lady told a military crowd in Wilmington, North Carolina, the first of three battleground states she was visiting.
"That’s the decision that he’s made, and just as he has always supported my career, I am all in too,” said Jill Biden, who teaches English and writing as a community college professor.
Later Monday, in remarks at an American Legion post in Tampa, Florida, she said her husband considers support of the military and veterans a "sacred obligation” that she contended contrasts with Trump.
"As commander in chief, President Biden wakes up every morning ready to work for you,” Jill Biden said. "Donald Trump wakes up every morning thinking of one person and one person only: himself.”
Danny Fuqua, president of the Democratic Veterans Caucus of Florida, said Biden's ties to the military make him the clear choice in November.
"The Bidens are a military family. They are one of us. They not only see the uniform, they see the person in it," Fuqua said.
Jill Biden addressed another military audience later Monday in Columbus, Georgia, home of the Army’s sprawling Fort Moore.
Her daylong tour was part of the Biden campaign’s broader effort to rebound from the president’s halting performance against Trump in last month’s debate.
The debate led some congressional Democrats and others to call on him to let another candidate challenge Trump because they no longer believe the 81-year-old president is mentally and physically capable of defeating the former Republican president in November.
Jill Biden also announced the formation of an organizing group, Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris at her Tampa stop.