ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Amid the ongoing fallout from Joe Biden’s fumbled debate performance, First Lady Jill Biden headed to Pennsylvania Tuesday in with three Democrat congresswomen in tow, hoping to sell Hispanic voters on the Biden Administration’s education agenda.
“[Joe Biden] knows that the key to our tomorrows rests in our classrooms,” Jill told an audience of dozens at Lehigh Carbon Community College’s Allentown campus. “In making sure our students are ready for the jobs of the future, jobs that are available in the communities where they grew up, communities like this one.”
Accompanying Jill in Allentown Tuesday afternoon were Reps. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), Nanette D. Barragán (D-Calif.) and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.). The “Classroom to Career” event addressed community college students, many of whom were Hispanic.
Barragán chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Velazquez is a ranking member of the House Committee on Small Business.
“When Latino communities are strong, our country is strong,” Jill told attendees while introducing Velazquez.
All four women expressed broad support for the president’s education proposals, from universal child care to investing in workforce training programs.
“It starts with free, high-quality, universal preschool,” Biden said of her husband’s agenda. “Because if we want our children to succeed in school and in their careers, we need to invest in them from the very beginning.”
The first lady also went out of her way to compliment Wild’s “bipartisan” approach to Congress — though the hometown congresswoman has voted with President Biden’s stated position 100% of the time during the previous session of Congress.
“Susan, you always look past partisanship to represent those who have deep ties to this area and those who have just moved here,” Biden said of Wild, who will face Republican challenger Ryan Mackenzie in a toss-up race in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District this Fall.
FLOTUS and the three congresswomen then held a panel discussion with community leaders like Lehigh Carbon Community College President Ann Bieber, Allentown School District Superintendent Carol Birks and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.
The first lady’s visit coincided with congressional Democrats’ first public calls for the president to step aside ahead of next month’s convention — but those calls haven’t caught on in Allentown just yet.
When asked by The Post, local officials in attendance emphasized their support for Joe Biden’s achievements and stopped short of calling for a change in leadership.
“I’m really excited about the work that President Biden is doing,” Superintendent Birks said. “His huge investments in education as well as healthcare, and supporting our country.”
“I think a lot of people still have confidence in his ability to lead the country,” said Edward Zucal, an Allentown City councilman. “I think the voters will decide that.”
