First Lady Pool Reports of October 30, 2022

FLOTUS pool report - New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney

First Lady Jill Biden headlined a fundraising event Sunday afternoon for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-New York, at the home of Hal and Nina Fetner on a hillside in the Westchester County village of Mount Kisco.

The minimum donation to Maloney's campaign committee was $100, with about 150 attendees listening to Dr. Biden's remarks on the Fetner's backyard patio.

Dr. Biden urged those attending to support the five-term incumbent, who serves as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Maloney faces faced tough opposition from his Republican opponent, and a flood of money into the campaign from national Republican groups.

"Sean, you've been such an incredible leader for the Hudson Valley and our party," she said. "We're all here, every single one of us, because we are going to fight to send you back."

Dr. Biden said she has traveled to more than 40 states as First Lady, and learned that there's a yearning across the country for similar goals.

"They really do want the same things that they've always wanted, and that's a chance to work hard, and build a good life for their families," she said.

The US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion, reminded Dr. Biden of an incident in the late 1960s when she was a teenager in Pennsylvania. That was before Roe was the law of the land,

A 17-year-old friend of hers had become pregnant. She recalled that her friend needed a psychiatric evaluation declaring her mentally unfit before the doctor would perform the procedure. Biden visited her in the hospital, and later asked her mother if her friend could stay with them after her discharge because she couldn't go home.

Her mother agreed.

"My Mom and I never spoke about it again," said Biden. "Secrecy, silence, danger, and even death. That's what defines that time for so many women. So I was shocked when the Dobbs decision came out. It was devastating."

Biden said that Maloney has a reputation for delivering in Congress, noting his work to back legislation that sent billions of dollars in aid for small businesses, public schools, mass transportation, as well as his support for legislation that capped prescription drug costs for seniors.

"He has been out front, leading Democrats in Congress against an extremist Republican agenda," she said. "He has delivered results again and again."

She urged Maloney's supporters to do whatever they could over the next nine days to help Maloney win a sixth term.

"This is an enormous race, but it comes down to those small moments," she said. "One phone call to a neighbor who forgot to vote, one ride offered to the polling place. Again and again, each action adds up. And suddenly we see what can be done."

She reminded Maloney's supporters than every vote counts in a competitive race.

"One vote can swing a precinct, one precinct can decide a district, one district can win a state," she said. "It starts with you. It starts with all of us, digging a little bit deeper, working a little bit harder, believing that together, all of us with re-elect Sean Patrick Maloney."

FLOTUS pool report - DLCC

First Lady Jill Biden headlined a fundraising event on Sunday night for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) hosted by Jonathan Soros at an apartment in a pre-war condominium building overlooking Central Park in New York City.

After a brief meet-and-greet to take pictures with the 35 or so attendees, Dr. Biden was introduced to the donors by Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic majority leader of the New York State Senate, who is also the chair of the DLCC.

Ms. Stewart-Cousins credited the DLCC for helping Democrats recapture full control of the State Senate in 2018, allowing the party to enact a bevy of long-stalled Democratic priorities in Albany, including legislation around voting rights, reproductive health and gun safety.

She then addressed the first lady directly: "Dr. Biden, I know you've been going around the country helping every way you can."

"We know what a champion you are for all of his work and family," Ms. Stewart-Cousins said. "And we know that you know that the difference between holding on to our democracy is going to be in the hands of the states and state legislatures."

Dr. Biden began her brief remarks to guests gathered in the living room by talking about how politics had not played a major role in her upbringing, which she said was largely defined by her father's service in the Navy, her role as the eldest of five daughters and the Philadelphia Phillies, which are in the World Series this year.

"I knew that my parents, I hate to say it, they voted Republican, but they didn't talk about it at the dinner table," she said. "Instead, they talked about my dad's job at the bank, about my grandparents' health and about the education that they wanted for me and for my four sisters. And so I bet a lot of your lives are very typical like that, too. Right? We just sit down and we talk about family, mostly."

She continued: "So, when I met Joe, I felt a little out of touch with his world in Washington, DC. And on our first day, I remember thinking, thank God I voted for him. Now, that was a long time ago, but for most Americans things aren't much different today."

She said that in traveling to almost 40 states as the First Lady, she realized that the one goal that unites Americans was, "the chance to work hard and build a better life for their families." That goal, she said, was being undermined "when extremists go after the rights that most Americans support," including the right to choose, access to affordable prescription drugs and clean energy.

Dr. Biden then shared a personal story she had recounted to guests at another fundraiser earlier in the day in Westchester.

When Dr. Biden was 17, she said that a friend of hers got pregnant. It was the 1960s — years before Roe v. Wade protected the right to an abortion at a national level — and abortions were illegal in Pennsylvania. Her friend, she said, told her that she would need to get "a psychiatric evaluation declaring her mentally unfit before the doctor would perform the procedure to end her pregnancy."

Dr. Biden, who said she cried on the drive back after visiting her friend in the hospital, said her friend couldn't go back home after being discharged.

"And so I gathered my courage and asked my mom, 'Mom, can she come stay with us?" she said. "And my mother didn't hesitate."

"My mom never told a soul. And in fact, my mother and I never spoke about it again. Secrecy, shame, silence, danger. Even death. That's what that time defined for so many women. So I was shocked when the Dobb's decision came out. For me, I felt it was devastating. You know, how could we go back to those times?"

She then tied her anecdote back to the purpose of the gathering: to raise money to support Democrats defend their majorities and make inroads in statehouses across the country, including in Colorado, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, among others.

State legislators, Dr. Biden said, "make some of the most important decisions that affect people's lives, from protecting a woman's right to choose to funding our schools, to making sure that people can afford health care."

"Members of the legislature are on the front lines every single day," she said. "And we need them to protect one of the most important things that we all have and that is our democracy."

FLOTUS pool report - DLCC CORRECTION

The original report stated that Dr. Biden said that "on our first day" she remember thinking how grateful she was to have voted for Joe Biden. Dr. Biden actually said "on our first date."

Your pooler regrets the error!