First lady Jill Biden stops campaigning in Minnesota, calls seniors

First lady Jill Biden made her second stop in Minnesota on Thursday on a multi-state campaign trail, urging older voters to vote for her husband in November.

The 73-year-old helped launch Seniors for Biden-Harris on behalf of the campaign during a pep rally at the Lincoln Park Senior Center in Duluth. There, she touted the current administration’s pro-aging policies, including Social Security, Medicare and lower drug prices.

She also didn’t shy away from addressing her concerns about her husband’s age.

“We cannot be defined by a number,” Biden said. “And when people underestimate, they do so at their own risk. »

Age has become a hot topic of discussion this election cycle, as both frontrunners are among the oldest in the country’s history. Although Biden suffered the brunt of the fall largely due to a series of public missteps, his 78-year-old opponent, former President Donald Trump, has also been criticized as unfit for high office .

“Joe Biden is a healthy and wise 81-year-old man, ready and willing to work for you every day to make our future better,” she said at the event. “Joe is not one of the most effective presidents of our lifetime, despite his age, but because of him.”

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Local Seniors for Biden-Harris campaigns will focus on reaching older populations through letter-writing, texting and phone banking campaigns, while the national effort plans to mobilize voters with retirement-age staples: pickleball and bingo.

President Biden won Minnesota in 2020 by a margin of more than seven points, despite Trump’s fraudulent claims that he was the rightful winner.

This tension has caused the North Star State to receive several high-profile visits from both party leaders since the start of the campaign cycle.

Trump visited St. Paul last month to speak at his local GOP convention, while Biden visited Duluth in January to tout infrastructure funding. And Vice President Kamala Harris made a historic stop at a Minnesota abortion clinic in March. The first lady rallied educators and women at an event in April, while second gentleman Douglas Emhoff visited the North Star State in February.

Biden began his day in Green Bay, Wisconsin, before arriving at Duluth International Airport late in the afternoon. On Friday, she will make appearances in California, Nevada and Arizona.

— Sam Woodward reports on the Minnesota elections for USA Today. You can reach her at [email protected]on X @woodyreports, or on Threads @samjowoody.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: First Lady Jill Biden Campaigns in Minnesota, Calls Out Seniors