Jill Biden’s journey from ‘secret weapon’ to ‘radical’ first lady

Jill Biden becomes America’s first lady this week, a position that has no constitutional duties, but is weighted with challenges and expectations. Andrew Buncombe reckons it’s a role made for her

Jill Biden plans to build an ‘an administration that lifts up all Americans’ (WireImage)

It was an icy afternoon in Davenport, Iowa, and Dr Jill Biden was knocking on doors with a rare energy. It was not as though she was pestering people; if residents did not want to chat, she wished them a good day and left. If there was no answer, she popped a flier under the door.

When she did engage with people, she was warm but not gushing. And it was clear she very much believed in the product she was selling, namely the presidential candidacy of her husband, Joe Biden.

“I have heard this all over Iowa and New Hampshire. We need someone we can respect – a leader,” she told The Independent that day in February 2020, days before the Iowa caucuses, the first and often crucial contest in the primary season. “People are positive. They say they’re going to vote for my husband because we need a change.”