Jill Biden out to flex political muscle in governors' races

WASHINGTON (AP) — First Lady Jill Biden is set to campaign Friday for Democrats in governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, trying to boost the party's political fortunes in her most overt way since arriving at the White House nine months ago.

Her involvement is the latest sign that Democrats are pulling out the stops in the upcoming elections, particularly in Virginia, where Democrat Terry McAuliffe appears to be in a tighter race than expected. Jill Biden will be followed by other high-profile party voices in the coming days, including former President Barack Obama and former candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams.

The return to the campaign trail will be Jill Biden's first since stumping for her husband in last year's presidential campaign. However, she has regularly traveled the country to promote such issues as improving public education and community college, reopening schools amid the pandemic and urging people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

That includes visiting reliably red states, like on Tuesday, when Biden met with Hispanic community leaders in Kansas, which hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

She's due at a Friday afternoon early voting rally at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey, where Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy is thought to be comfortably ahead. Biden will later attend an event in suburban Richmond, Virginia’s capital, alongside McAuliffe, a former governor who is running to regain the post.

In New Jersey, Murphy has sought to tie his Republican opponent, ex-state Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli, to former President Donald Trump’s hesitancy about the COVID vaccine and mask-wearing, as well as lies about last year’s presidential election being stolen by widespread fraud.

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