Jill Biden defended Kamala Harris against 'lies' being told about her during an Arizona campaign swing, as a new poll shows Donald Trump leading in the critical battleground state.
Trump is leading 51% to Harris' 46% in the state New York Times/Sienna Poll found.
Arizona is one of the most hotly contested battlegrounds of the 2024 election. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns are spending considerable resources here.
And it was where Jill Biden made her first campaign stop for Kamala Harris, touting her candidacy at two-day events.
The first lady used her campaign time to criticize Donald Trump for supporting abortion bans and corporate tax breaks, describing the former president as greedy and selfish.
Jill Biden made her first campaign stop for Kamala Harris, rallying voters in Arizona
She also addressed 'lies' about Harris, who has been the subject of conspiracy theories and false claims by Trump.
“You're probably already hearing all kinds of lies about Kamala,” she said at an event in Yuma on Friday night. She went on to describe Harris' work as California attorney general, senator and vice president.
Trump falsely accused Harris of lying about working at McDonalds when she was a teenager and misrepresenting the role she played in the Biden administration's work on border security.
Jill Biden painted a more compassionate picture of the Democratic presidential candidate, talking about her work fighting crime as attorney general and how she helped a high school friend who was experiencing abuse.
“That’s the Kamala Harris I know — a quick, tough, compassionate and decisive leader, and that’s the kind of president you deserve, Arizona,” she said.
And Biden has repeatedly attacked Trump for his role in appointing Supreme Court judges who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Wade.
“Donald Trump’s abortion ban has taken away women’s ability to make their own health care decisions,” she said.
“No one has to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government should not tell women what to do with their bodies,” she said, to loud applause.
Reproductive rights have proven to be a winning issue for Democrats, who have used them to rally their base to the polls in the 2022 midterm elections.
Much of the first lady's five-day, five-state campaign will focus on rallying voters on this issue.
She also repeated some lines about Trump that she used when she campaigned for President Biden, changing them to work for Harris.
'As president, Kamala Harris will fight for you. Donald Trump still wakes up every day thinking about one person: himself,” she said.
“Another Donald Trump presidency would lead to more chaos, more greed, more division. He still wants to cut taxes for rich guys like him, while costs are rising for everyone else.'
A New York Times/Siena poll showed Donald Trump leading by six points in Arizona over Kamala Harris – the state is hotly contested in the 2024 presidential election
In addition to the first lady, Harris' campaign sent running mate Tim Walz and second gentleman Doug Emhoff to Arizona. Harris will also be at state.
Early voting has begun in Arizona and the first lady reminded people that President Biden only won the state by 10,457 votes in the 2020 race.
In Phoenix on Saturday morning, she spoke to a group of educators out canvassing and reminded them that every vote counts.
'You know the first time I voted I almost didn't vote for my future husband. And truth. Can you imagine if I hadn't? I mean, thank God I made it,” she said.
She noticed she was a student at the University of Delaware at the time and Joe Biden was running for senator.
“Joe actually won the election by just 3,000 votes, so it could easily have happened the other way around,” she said.
This is Jill Biden's fourth time in Arizona this year, but her first appearance for Kamala Harris.
It's been about 10 weeks since President Biden exited the 2024 campaign.
At the time, the first lady felt the pain of 'betrayal' Democrats who privately offered support to her husband — and then publicly called for him to drop out of the presidential race, people close to her told DailyMail.com.
Jill Biden was next to Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delawareon that fateful day he made his decision and even called Harris to declare his support for the vice president.
“We love you,” she told Harris, a source familiar with the conversation said. She also called Harris' husband Doug Emhoff, whom she is close to.
Now, she's making her support public with a high-profile campaign for Harris.
In addition to western stops in Arizona and Nevada she will target the 'blue wall' states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania – three states the party considers essential to Harris' victory.
It is Jill Biden's first return to the campaign trail since her husband Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July and comes after reports of initial tension between the first lady and Vice President Harris.
Before President Biden left office, Jill Biden was a high-profile Democratic surrogate for both her husband and other party members. In the 2022 midterm elections, more candidates for Congress and the Senate wanted her at their rallies than wanted the president.
Jill Biden has been an enthusiastic supporter of her husband, regularly coming out to tout his accomplishments before voters. She led the Women for Biden-Harris effort, which saw her travel to swing states where she praised the president and criticized Trump.
The first lady, who supported the president when he resisted party leaders to stay in the race, disappeared from the campaign spotlight after he left office.
She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and formally supported Harris, but focused on Union Powers, women's health and her other initiatives as first lady.
President Joe Biden gives wife Jill Biden a kiss after giving the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in August
Early in the administration, it was reported that Jill Biden was angry with Kamala Harris over an incident in the 2020 primary debates
Early in the Biden administration, there were reports of bad feelings between Jill Biden – who is known for holding grudges – and Harris.
Biden was upset with Harris for a line of attack in one of the first primary debates, targeting Joe Biden for his record on school busing in the 1960s as part of desegregation efforts.
But those feelings – along with any lingering feelings of resentment regarding her husband's treatment by party leaders – appear to have been set aside for the larger goal of winning the election.
The first lady kicked off her campaign with two stops in Arizona, campaigning in Yuma and Phoenix.
She will be in Carson City and Reno, Nevada, on Sunday, while spending Monday in the Detroit suburbs and Madison, Wisconsin.
His trip will end on Tuesday with a stop in his hometown of Philadelphia.
