VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — First Lady Jill Biden met with supporters in Virginia Beach ahead of Thursday night’s presidential debate.
She stopped at a campaign organizing event on Virginia Beach Boulevard around 2:20 p.m. to greet volunteers and supporters of her husband, President Joe Biden. She said she was heading to Atlanta for the debate, and joked she had to turn the TV off because of all of the debate talk.
Biden started off by talking about the military community, saying “the Bidens are a military family.”
“My dad fought in World War II … and our son Beau went to Iraq for a year as part of the Delaware Army National Guard, so when I hear Trump call members of our military losers and suckers, you know, how dare he. How dare he,” said Biden, who was referencing an account from Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly.
Biden added that the election comes down to two visions for America.
“The vision you’ve chosen [in supporting President Biden] is for strong, steady leadership,” Jill Biden told supporters. “Versus that other vision, which is chaos and corruption. … [Trump] says he wants to be a dictator on day one and take away a lot of the freedoms that we already have.”
You can watch the full remarks in the player above.
The First Lady spoke to supporters packed into a small room at the Democratic Coordinated Campaign Office. For her supporters, the humidity was a small price to pay to meet the First Lady.
“Everything that the Biden administration has accomplished in this short amount of time has been incredible,” said Biden supporter Melissa Lukeson. “Really, he’s had a historic presidency and I really don’t understand why more people do not understand those changes. I think it’s because it takes a long time to trickle down.”
Many folks told 10 On Your Side they admire the First Lady for her work in education, and the Biden family for their military service.
“I like what President Biden has done as a veteran of the United States Air Force,” said Maurice Hawkins. “I like how President Biden has reaffirmed our commitment to NATO, reaffirmed our commitment to our allies, the support he’s provided to Ukraine, fighting for democracy across the globe.”
Others applauded the push for affordable healthcare.
“Millions of people have had healthcare as a result of that,” said Sandra Brandt. “I’ve had several people that I know that have been able to get on the Affordable Care Act and it’s something that has saved them, through their healthcare, them and their children.”
The First Lady talked about President Joe Biden’s fight for freedom and democracy, saying that the president cares about Americans. She asked supporters, when they watch the first presidential debate, to hear President Biden’s words and listen to his heart.
“In the end, it really comes down to who has the wisdom and who has the experience and who has the ability to really lead this country in the right direction but more than that, we’re really look at what man has the character,” the first lady said.
The first lady’s visit not only comes ahead of Thursday’s debate, but also a scheduled visit to Chesapeake Friday afternoon by former President Donald Trump, alongside Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Both Jill and Joe Biden, meanwhile, will be in Raleigh that Friday afternoon to hold a post-debate rally.
President Biden won Virginia in 2020, including Chesapeake, while Trump won North Carolina in 2020. However both campaigns have been talking a lot about how they feel bullish about their chances in the states they lost, respectively. Polling though shows a flip by either candidate would be a stretch.