Jill Biden Talks Faith, Politics During Atlanta Campaign Fundraiser

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Jill Biden campaigns on behalf of her husband, Democratic presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden, on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, in Great Falls, S.C. / AP

Speaking at a private event in Atlanta on Tuesday, former second lady Jill Biden celebrated recent endorsements for her husband, former Vice President Joe Biden, from prominent Atlanta politicians and shared a glimpse into her life on the campaign trail.

Out drumming up support for her husband, Biden did not talk about recent polls or the upcoming debates. Instead, she talked about life on the trail and thanked Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms and State Rep. Calvin Smyre for endorsing her husband's 2020 bid. 

At Joe Biden's side through eight of his 10 campaigns, his wife has endured attacks from opposition, tough coverage and heart-wrenching personal loss. But, she says, during this campaign — her husband's 11th run for elected office — she has found something unexpected.

"For all the things I expected to find on this campaign, a pathway back to my faith was not one of them," she said.

Jill Biden said that a recent prayer service she attended touched her in an unexpected way. 

“For the first time in a long time I felt like there was a path to recovering my faith," she said.

Struggling with faith after the death of their son, Beau, was a topic that Jill Biden wrote intimately about in her book Where The Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself. In the chapter "Shattered," she said that after Beau's death her family was, "broken."

.@DrBiden tells supporters in Atlanta “for all the things I expected to find on this campaign, a pathway back to my faith was not one of them.” per @bluestein.

She talked about struggling with faith after Beau Biden’s 2015 death in her memoir “Where Light Enters” pic.twitter.com/aZsYD4ROFu— Robert Jimison (@RobertJimison) August 27, 2019

"The grandkids ask Joe to take them to church like we used to, so when we're in Wilmington, they go to a service together, but I stay behind, she wrote in the 2019 memoir. "I still have a lot of unanswered questions. Where I once saw order, I now see chaos. Where I once felt that peace that surpasses understanding, I now feel a hollow silence. I'm still not ready for sermons or prayers.

She continued, "one day, I hope I can salvage my faith." 

Back at the fundraiser Tuesday, Jill Biden said it was the people she met on the trail that pivoted her back toward her faith.

The pitch then turned back to her mission: promoting her husband's candidacy. 

"We are here today because we believe in the darkest times we can be a light for each other,” she said in closing, "and we know we can’t write the next chapter in our nation’s story unless we come together.”