Jill Biden pitches the benefits of age on the campaign trail

CNN —

First lady Dr. Jill Biden is hitting the campaign trail on a double mission this week, courting older voters to support her husband’s reelection bid while also tackling voters’ concerns about his age.

“This isn’t just about stopping an extremist, and this election is most certainly not about age,” the first lady said at an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin. “Joe and that other guy are essentially the same age. Let’s not be fooled. But what this election is about, it’s about the character of the person leading our country.”

“Joe Biden is a healthy, wise 81-year-old ready and willing to work for you every day to make our future better,” she added. “Joe isn’t one of the most effective presidents of our lives in spite of his age, but because of it.”

Her remarks came at her first stop of a three-day campaign swing through Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Nevada and Arizona. The campaign has deployed the first lady to help boost support among older voters, a group that has typically voted Republican in presidential elections but has shifted toward President Joe Biden in this year’s contest.

Age has proven to be an inescapable issue in the rematch between two seniors – Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, who turned 78 on Friday. But the first lady is using her unique position as a spouse of the oldest president in US history and a senior herself – she turned 73 last week – to speak of the benefits of aging and appeal to an important voting bloc.

“The woman I am today is wiser, stronger, more insightful and more confident than I was all those years ago,” she said. “Every line on my face has been earned by the furrowed brows of difficult decisions made. By the sun of countless roads traveled, by the sweet