Jill Biden: A chance to transform the role of first lady

U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden kisses his wife Jill as they dance at the Commander-In-Chief Ball in Washington, U.S. [Reuters]

Jill Biden is no stranger to the glare of the political spotlight. Her husband has been a Washington insider since they wedded in 1977, and she was America’s second lady for eight years.

But now that Joe Biden has won the White House, his 69-year-old wife will have the opportunity to push the role of First Lady into the 21st century - by keeping her full-time job as professor.

“Most American women have both a work life and a family life, but first ladies have never been allowed to do so,” said Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University.

“Maybe the time has come when more Americans will feel comfortable with a first lady who isn’t on-call at the White House 24/7.”

Of course, Jill, for years, has been a trusted advisor to her 77-year-old husband, who defeated incumbent President Donald Trump.

As First Lady, she is expected to work on education issues and relaunch Joining Forces, a mission to rally around military families that she and Michelle Obama started in 2011.

But she is also a professor, a mother, a grandmother and the rock that kept Biden going after tragedy struck nearly five decades ago.

In 1972, Joe Biden faced the unthinkable - his young wife and daughter were killed in a car crash, and he was left alone to raise his two young sons, both injured in the accident.

Tough and loyal

Enter Jill Jacobs, who was born in 1951 and grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Her father rose up the ranks in banking from teller to president. Her mother was a homemaker.

Jill was in the process of divorcing her first husband when she met Biden, a widower who was commuting daily from Delaware to Washington, where he served as a US senator.

The couple wedded in 1977, and she became “Mom” to his sons Hunter and Beau. The Bidens have a daughter, Ashley, who was born in 1981.

While raising her family, Jill also earned two Master’s degrees. She would eventually earn a doctorate in education, and now teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.

Since then, the couple has been through two failed presidential runs, his eight years as vice president, the death of Beau Biden after a battle with cancer - and now, a successful White House campaign. 

“She put us back together,” Biden said in a video shown in August during the Democratic National Convention, as he described Jill’s impact on the tragedy-scarred family. 

“She is so damn tough and loyal.” 

Jill assumed the role of second lady in 2009 when her husband became Barack Obama’s vice president, participating in high-profile events with First Lady Michelle and developing a comfortable public speaking style.

Throughout her husband’s third race for the White House, Jill was one of his most effective and forceful surrogates. She campaigned tirelessly, crisscrossing early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and battlegrounds such as Florida and Michigan in the home-stretch, often headlining smaller events.

She presented her husband as the candidate who best appealed not only to moderate Democrats, but also to independents and Republicans disappointed with Trump.

In March, she found herself in the role of protector at an event in Los Angeles, when she dramatically fended off two protesters who lunged at her husband on stage. “We’re OK,” she said reassuringly.

In her convention speech from a classroom at a Wilmington High School, where she taught English in the 1990s, she vouched for her husband’s character, capabilities and heart.

“How do you make a broken family whole?” she said of Biden’s persistence through adversity.