WASHINGTON — First Lady Jill Biden hits Chicago on Wednesday afternoon to headline the annual pre-Labor Day event sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor, part of a Midwest swing next week.
The federation reception, in McCormick Place, will provide a venue for the first lady to deliver a White House tribute to organized labor, one of the strongest parts of the Democratic base.
Chicago is a union city and the CFL, led by president Bob Reiter, is the third-largest central labor council of the national AFL-CIO.
Labor Day is Sept. 4 and the federation event a few days before usually attracts Chicago’s labor and business leaders and top elected officials. It is likely Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker attend, with the first lady coming to the city where the Democratic National Convention will be held and President Joe Biden expects to be nominated for a second term next August.
Before the Chicago stop, the first lady will land in Indianapolis for a back-to-school event with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy at a local high school. That visit will, the White House said, “highlight the importance of mental health resources for schools.” Biden, a professor of writing at Northern Virginia Community College, is doing a series of back-to-school events.
On Thursday the first lady will be in Madison, Wisconsin with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., for an event, part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot, a project to highlight the need for cancer screenings.
In another back-to-school event, Biden then delivers remarks honoring educators at a gathering with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers.
In Madison, Biden will be the draw at a fundraiser with Baldwin, who is up for re-election in 2024.
