First lady Jill Biden calls educators to rally Harris-Walz vote in Philly suburbs

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The Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) had a special guest to volunteer at their Kamala Harris for President phone bank Tuesday afternoon.

First lady Dr. Jill Biden made a stop in West Chester, Pennsylvania at the PSEA’s office to thank volunteers for their hard work and dedication to the Harris campaign.

“I’ve been traveling across the country,” said Biden. “And so I’m going to say thank you for what you’re doing, because I know you all probably just got off work, or you had a long day. We won Pennsylvania in 2020 and we’re going to win it again.”

The first lady hopes to bring her Pennsylvania connection and star power to motivate fellow educators to volunteer and vote for Democrats this election. Biden lived with her family in Montgomery County growing up.

“We’re going to get out there for Kamala and Tim [Walz] and Bob Casey, who is a good friend,” Biden said.

Biden then sat with volunteers and began to make calls to a list of PSEA members.

“Nancy, it’s Jill Biden,” she said. “I’m doing great, I’m on my fall break so I could come out and make some phone calls.”

Biden then asked, “So, will you come out and volunteer for us?” for which she ultimately sealed the deal and joked with fellow volunteers, “Two for two!”

Biden hopes to make the best of her fall break from teaching, the PSEA boasts 178,000 members and is made up of a community of education professionals that includes teachers, education support professionals, higher education staff, nurses in health care facilities, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.

Shannon Moore, region director of PSEA, said the organization stands behind the Harris-Walz ticket because the administration supports teacher unions and are against school vouchers, “They support money staying in public schools and not being diverted out through vouchers,” Moore said.

Andrea Fink has taught at East Lansdowne Elementary School for the past 13 years, and prior to that taught kindergarten for 11 years.

Fink said she saw firsthand what happened when budget cuts forced her district to eliminate their reading specialist during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was crucial after the pandemic because of the learning loss in reading,” Fink said, praising federal funding from the Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief program, which “allowed for us to have a reading specialist, finally in our building after almost thirteen years without having one.”

Fink then talked to Biden why she supports the campaign, saying, “It’s important to have pro-public education candidates because public schools are the hearts and souls of communities.”

Biden made several calls where she asked members to not only help get out the vote but to also volunteer with the Harris campaign.

When asked how her calls were going, she said with a smile on her face, “I think they know I’m a teacher, and so they’re just happy to talk to another educator who’s volunteering as well, which is great. It’s nice to hear everyone is so positive.”

Biden also made a call to a familiar school where she told the caller, from Henderson High School, that she once dated a staff member from their high school.

“I’ve actually been to your high school many, many, years ago. I actually dated a guy who did his student teaching there. We chaperoned a school dance,” Biden said.

Biden then made a second stop at a campaign rally in support of the Harris-Walz campaign at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

Biden told the crowd of 230 supporters, “You can tell by my accent, I’m a Philly girl through and through. I always feel right at home on a community college campus,” as the crowd cheered.

The stop took a more serious tone as Biden said she’s been a teacher for 40 years and said she “commutes from the White House to a community college in Virginia,” and reiterated she was using her two-day fall break from teaching to stump for Harris and Walz.

She then told the crowd the reasons she supported Kamala Harris and began re-telling the story of Harris’s childhood friend Wanda, who she shared was the reason Harris was tough on crime.

She outlined the campaign stance on home ownership, saying, “She’s [Harris’] going to give first time home buyers $25,000 to help with the down payment,” Biden said, adding that Harris would sign a law to restore “reproductive freedoms to everyone,” as well as lower the cost of groceries.

“Kamala Harris is going to fight for you, and she needs great partners in the Senate so let’s re-elect Bob Casey,” Biden said.

She turned the topic of her speech to the Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and said, “I hate to say his name: Donald Trump,” while the crowd booed.

“Donald Trump wakes up every morning thinking about one person and one person only, himself,” Biden said. “Another Trump administration would lead to more chaos, more greed, more division. He wants to lower taxes for rich guys like him, while costs for everyone else go up. Teachers, firefighters and nurses shouldn’t have to pay a higher tax rate than CEOs.”

The first lady was introduced by Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that protect people from gun violence.

“Our safety and our freedoms are on the line, we have to not just vote but get other people to do the same,” Watts said, adding that the Harris-Walz campaign will continue to lower crime. “The data shows the Bipartisan Safer Community Act, which passed through Congress in 2022, is saving lives and we are seeing that in Pennsylvania,” Watts said.

Supporters Loryn Whitman and her 14-year-old son Benje Whitman have followed the campaign closely and said they decided to come to the event to hear from Biden directly.

“People are excited with a good message. We live right across the street so we thought there is no reason not to come by. A few weeks ago we saw Tim Walz in Allentown,” Loryn Whitman said.

“I’m very interested in politics so I really enjoy to come to things like this, when there is an opportunity. I thought it was great energy and it’s good to see people wanting to get involved in polling  and voting for sure,” Benje Whitman said.

Biden ended her speech with a plea for votes.

“Register to vote by Oct. 21 right now. In Montgomery County, you can vote early in person by visiting your local library,” she said, as she then took time to greet supporters and take photos.