Touting union workers as “the backbone of this country,” first lady Jill Biden came to Chicago on Wednesday to highlight the Biden administration’s support of organized labor.
“President Biden and I understand the middle class, because we are from the middle class,” Biden said to applause at a Chicago Federation of Labor event outside McCormick Place. “And unions, you built the middle class. And that’s why Joe is fighting for unions, so that workers can fight for what they need: better pay, safer working conditions, flexibility and health care.”
The first lady also hailed the president’s economic plan — “Bidenomics” — and credited the administration for lowering unemployment, rebuilding roads and expanding clean energy and manufacturing.
Jill Biden touted her credentials at the event as a “proud, card-carrying union member.” The first lady has continued teaching English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has been a professor since 2009.
The first lady’s brief remarks — just six minutes — came during a Labor Day kickoff event, with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and other top Democrats in tow. The event overlooked Lake Michigan — a scenic outdoor space that will be used as one of several venues during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next August.
Chicago’s status as a major union city helped it nab that convention. And in July, some big unions signed a “labor peace agreement,” promising not to strike during the convention.
The first lady has been ramping up travel and fundraising ahead of next year’s elections. In June, she went on a three-day fundraising swing to New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Before her Chicago stop Wednesday, the first lady landed in Indianapolis for a back-to-school event with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at a local high school, where the two highlighted mental health resources for schools.
Jill Biden was active in the 2020 and 2022 campaign cycles — and a Gallup poll released earlier this month found the first lady had a rare positive net favorability ranking — one of only two U.S. public figures in the poll to do so.
Net favorability is the difference between how many people hold a favorable opinion and how many hold an unfavorable one. In Jill Biden’s case, it was a net positive of 11 percentage points. President Joe Biden had a net negative ranking of 16 percentage points.
The first lady will be in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., for an event highlighting the Biden Cancer Moonshot, a project highlighting the need for cancer screenings. She’ll also deliver remarks at a gathering with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers and attend a fundraiser with Baldwin.
