Skip to main content
Clear icon
63Āŗ

Jill Biden, Doug Emhoff team up in final campaign stretch

1 / 10

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jill Biden, left, wife of Democratic presidential candidate former vice president Joe Biden, and Doug Emhoff, center, husband of Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., greet supporters in passing cars during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa ā€“ Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff are both from New Jersey. They married politicians who have been in the national spotlight for years. And now they're building a team as the better halves of the Joe Biden campaign.

Biden and Emhoff have rapidly become two of the campaignā€™s most prolific surrogates, engaging in in-person campaign events and virtual fundraisers at a pace that often outmatches their spouses at the top of the ticket.

Recommended Videos



While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have spent their days campaigning in key states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, Jill Biden and Emhoff have had nonstop schedules of virtual fundraisers, constituency-focused events and trips to important but less high-profile states like Virginia and Maine, where Jill Biden visited this week.

Theyā€™ve campaigned together more than their spouses have, visiting New Hampshire earlier this month and Iowa over the weekend. And in a joint interview this weekend, they said theyā€™ve begun to build a partnership that will help the campaign and a potential Biden administration.

ā€œDonā€™t you think the American people love seeing people in government who respect one another and are friends with one another?ā€ Jill Biden said as she campaigned in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday. ā€œEspecially in this time of the pandemic, and itā€™s such a divisive government that weā€™re living in now, this chaos of Donald Trumpā€™s America, I think people are looking for people who are strong to come together to lead this country forward. And I think the four of us are going to show that.ā€

Emhoff and Biden spent the day touring damage from the recent derecho that hit Iowa, helping a group of volunteers clean up a park hit by the storm and speaking at a drive-in rally later that afternoon.

Emhoff said every interaction they have with voters they take back home to their spouses, to help them better understand the challenges confronting Americans.

ā€œWhether itā€™s vets or health care or all these issues that are important to people right now, weā€™re out here listening, and weā€™re literally going right back to Joe and Kamala with these notes from the field. So itā€™s just the more we can do things together and experience this together, the stronger theyā€™re going to be,ā€ he said.

It wasnā€™t their first time campaigning together ā€” the two hit the trail earlier this month in New Hampshire, where they held events focused on health care and veterans.

The participants included Billy Shaheen, husband of Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. He said he had a three-hour dinner with Emhoff and Harris back in January and came away impressed with them both.

ā€œDoug is going to be great. Heā€™ll be a great second gentleman. Heā€™s a good balance for her. He really supports her,ā€ he said in an interview.

Their busy schedules reflect in part the traditional strategic role of the spouses on a presidential campaign ā€” essentially doubling the campaignā€™s footprint, amplifying its core message and expanding it to broader constituencies. Jill Biden has become one of the campaignā€™s main surrogates for Latino outreach and, as a teacher herself, often holds events focused on teachers and education. Emhoff, with his network of deep-pocketed donors as an entertainment lawyer, has done fundraising for the campaign and headlined a number of Jewish outreach events.

But the pace also reflects whatā€™s perhaps a more urgent imperative for a political spouse in the age of Trump, when Biden himself has made an explicit argument that ā€œcharacter is on the ballotā€ this fall.

Connie Schultz, whoā€™s campaigned for her husband, Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and wrote a book about what itā€™s like to be a political spouse, said Biden's and Harrisā€™ spouses are their best messenger on that front.

ā€œThey help humanize these people at a time when I think the public is looking at character a little bit more than they otherwise would have,ā€ she said.

Indeed, at the drive-in rally in Cedar Rapids this weekend, Brian Johannesen, a 32-year-old musician, said he felt it was ā€œimportant to get to know the better halves of the candidates.ā€

ā€œItā€™s good to see the other side of the team ā€” it gives you more confidence in who they are as people," he said.

While their joint appearances may be helpful for the campaign, theyā€™re also laying the groundwork for what could be a fruitful working relationship in the White House. Jill Biden had a close working and personal relationship with Michelle Obama, and the two frequently appeared at public events together and worked on veteransā€™ issues throughout their eight years in the White House.

Emhoff and Biden declined to share details on how they foresee their relationship affecting their roles in the White House. But theyā€™ve been ā€œbonding,ā€ Emhoff said, since the primary, when he would chat with Jill Biden backstage before events, and Joe would put his arm around him and ask, ā€œHow are you doing, kid?ā€

When Harris was chosen as Bidenā€™s running mate, the Bidens called Emhoffā€™s parents and then his kids. Jill Biden said it was clear they ā€œreally had a strong sense of family,ā€ and from that moment, ā€œJoe and I just knew right then that this was going to work.ā€

ā€œThis was going to be a really strong team because we value the same things,ā€ she said.

Emhoff said heā€™s learning from Biden every time they campaign together. While heā€™s joined Harris on the campaign trail throughout her career, and campaigned for her during the Democratic primary, he took a leave of absence from his job, and the pace and number of events heā€™s doing as part of the presidential ticket is new. Jill Biden has made sure to call and check in on him after a busy week.

ā€œI lived what heā€™s going through. Itā€™s like, all of a sudden, your life changes so incredibly. Itā€™s such a journey, and every day is different,ā€ she said. ā€œIā€™ve gone through that ā€” and I want to make sure Dougā€™s OK. Because itā€™s hard. Itā€™s hard being thrown into the spotlight.ā€

___

Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Manchester, N.H., contributed to this report.


Loading...

Recommended Videos