Joe and Jill Biden hit Chicago for fundraisers Monday

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden took a break from this “No Malarkey” bus tour across Iowa for a fundraising trip to Chicago on Monday.

The former vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, held separate events in Chicago on Monday, after Biden stumped in Iowa. On Tuesday, Biden resumes his tour of the state with the first-in-the-nation presidential vote.

In Illinois, the Biden delegate slates are being organized by Sheila Nix, a former chief of staff to Jill Biden when she was in the White House. Nix told the Chicago Sun-Times she expects Biden to run delegate slates in all 18 Illinois congressional districts.

On Monday, Biden fundraised at the downtown Union League Club at an event with about 70 people. According to the pool report, Biden “slammed President Donald Trump at a Chicago fundraiser on Monday night, saying the president ‘literally is corroding the soul of this country.’

“Biden addressed a group of trial lawyers at a downtown Chicago fundraiser hosted by Todd Smith, Bob Clifford, John Simmons, Tony Romanucci, Kathy Byrne, John Cooney, and Kevin Conway,” the pool report said.

Nix co-hosted the Jill Biden fundraiser in the West Loop along with activist Linda Rae Sher and Reyahd Kazmi, whose wife, City Clerk Anna Valencia is a high-profile Illinois Kamala Harris supporter.

Biden’s Iowa bus swing started Saturday and ends a week later on Dec. 7, with the Chicago side trip.

Biden will hit 18 Iowa counties in this swing. The Iowa caucus is Feb. 3.