First lady Jill Biden comes to Pittsburgh to urge teachers to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot

First lady Jill Biden joined fellow teachers at the American Federation of Teachers site in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats neighborhood to encourage them to vote for Democratic candidates down the ballot next Tuesday.

The first lady brought her get-out-the-vote bus tour to Pittsburgh to stump for Summer Lee, who is running for Congress in the 12th District, Chris Deluzio, who is running for Congress in the 17th District, and Democrats running for the state legislature.

“This year, the races up and down the ballot are going to be so close,” said Biden, wife of President Joe Biden. “The only way we’re going to win is by showing up and encouraging others to do the same, no matter how busy they are. Put voting on the top of your to-do list, and help us make sure your fellow educators and friends and neighbors do the same.”

Biden, herself an educator, said her husband is a supporter of education. She touted his efforts to back unions and teachers across the country.

“He’s delivered again and again, and he did it with just a slim majority in Congress,” she said. “Imagine what he could do with a few more partners, like Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee.”

Biden called the upcoming election “the fight for the future of our country.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the first lady brings the needs of teachers and other union workers to the White House.

“We have an ally in the White House, a person who, literally, has been grading papers in the residence,” she said.

Weingarten said she is backing the Democratic candidates because she feels they will fight for reproductive freedoms, bolster education and support American workers.

Voting, she said, should be the main “lesson plan” for the dozens of teachers and other supporters gathered Wednesday.

Rob Mitchell, a Spanish teacher at Pittsburgh Public School’s Westinghouse Academy, said he’s been campaigning for Democratic candidates.

“We deserve elected officials who protect our democracy, who invest in public schools,” he said.

Biden’s bus tour kicked off in Green Bay, Wisc and will hit at least 25 cities in 10 states before Election Day on Tuesday.

The first lady’s visit comes two weeks after President Biden visited the site of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse to survey construction efforts on the new span and tout his administration’s investments in infrastructure.