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Jill Biden speaks at campaign rally in Traverse City

Official White House portrait

Jill Biden, wife of Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, spoke in Traverse City on Tuesday.

A crowd of over 100 socially-distanced and masked attendees at Right Brain Brewery heard Biden call for early in-person and mail-in voting.

“We have to show them we’re not going to sit by and just watch what happens. We’re going to decide what happens, by voting today,” she said.

She also said her husband would unify the country if elected. Chasten Buttigieg, Traverse City native and husband of former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, also spoke.

“We have to elect Joe Biden,” Buttigeg said. “I’m excited to have a leader and a teacher, an empathetic loving first lady in the East Wing as well.”

Biden also said she’d be touring a farm in Central Lake to see how climate change is impacting the region’s farms.

Democrat Dan O’Neil was there to rally support for his bid for northern Michigan’s 104th state House seat. He’s running against Republican John Roth.

“We have 35 days to make a change in this community, to make a change in the state of Michigan and to make a change in this country,” O’Neil said.

This is the second presidential campaign stop in Traverse City over the past few weeks. Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a rally for President Donald Trump in late August.

Michigan is likely to be a battleground state in November’s general election. President Donald Trump narrowly won the state in 2016.

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Max came to IPR in 2017 as an environmental intern. In 2018, he returned to the station as a general assignment reporter. Before joining IPR, Max worked as a news director and reporter at Michigan State University's student radio station WDBM. In 2018, he reported on a Title IX dispute with MSU in his story "Prompt, Thorough and Impartial." His work has also been heard on Michigan Radio and WDBM and WKAR in East Lansing.