Jill Biden on Tuesday tugged on America’s heartstrings in an emotional appeal for support for her husband, Joseph R. Biden.
Addressing the Democratic National Convention in a livestream from a high school in Delaware, Mrs. Biden said she felt the same fears and uncertainty as most Americans feel about the coronavirus, and she vouched for her husband’s ability to lead the country out of it.
“You can hear the anxiety that echoes down empty hallways,” Mrs. Biden said, walking in Brandywine High School, where she once taught. “There’s no scent of new notebooks or freshly waxed floors. The rooms are dark and the bright young faces that should fill them are confined to boxes on a computer screen.”
She said she hears about the frustration, worry and grief of so many suffering because of the pandemic.
“As a mother and a grandmother, as an American, I am heartbroken by the magnitude of this loss—by the failure to protect our communities — by every precious and irreplaceable life gone. Like so many of you, I’m left asking: how do I keep my family safe?”
The answer, she said, was to trust in Mr. Biden, who earlier in the convention was confirmed to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
At the conclusion, Mr. Biden entered the classroom and gave a pitch for his wife to be the first lady.
“She’s the rock of our family,” he said. “She never gives herself much credit but the truth is she is the strongest person I know. She has a backbone like a ramrod. She loves fiercely and cares deeply. Nothing stops her when she sets her mind to getting something right.”
“Just think of your favorite educator who gave you the confidence to believe in yourself, said Mr. Biden. “That’s the kind of first lady, lady, lady, lady this Jill Biden will be. God love you.”
In the speech, Mrs. Biden recounted how Mr. Biden suffered great loss. His first wife died in a car accident along with his daughter in 1972, when he was a senator-elect from Delaware.
“How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole,” said Mrs. Biden. “With love and understanding—and with small acts of compassion. With bravery. With unwavering faith.”
She recalled how Mr. Biden’s oldest son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
Mrs. Biden promised that her husband knew how to lead the country out of despair.
“The burdens we carry are heavy, and we need someone with strong shoulders,” she said. “I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours: bring us together and make us whole. Carry us forward in our time of need. Keep the promise of America, for all of us.”
