Dr. Jill Biden Through The Years: See Then & Now Pics Of Joe Biden’s Accomplished Wife In Public Life

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As Americans vote in the 2020 election, here’s a look at Dr. Jill Biden, the former Second Lady – and potential First Lady – who has been campaigning for her husband, Joe Biden.

“There’s so much at stake,” Dr. Jill Biden said to reporters in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Nov. 2. During the final stretch of the 2020 United States presidential election, the wife of Democratic nominee Joe Biden continued to drum up support for her husband in battleground states. While in St. Petersburg, she boiled down the 2020 election to a contrast of characters, comparing her husband’s integrity to that of President Donald Trump. “I don’t care if you’re worried about climate change, education, health care, gun control, whatever it is that you really, truly care about,” she said, per WFLA. “It’s all at stake.”

“And you know, character is on the ballot,” Dr. Biden added. “Joe and Donald Trump could not be more opposite. So if you’re looking for a president that is strong and resilient, and will be a steady calm leader to get rid of this chaos of Donald Trump’s America, if you’re tired of it all, then you must vote for my husband, Joe Biden.” The former Second Lady of the United States has been a fixture on the campaign trail, delivering passionate speeches about why Americans should choose Joe when it comes time to vote.

This is not the first time Dr. Biden has stumped for Joe. Take a look at the gallery above to see some of the best moments of her life as Joe’s better half. As for those of you who still have questions, here’s what you need to know about this amazing educator.

What is Jill Biden’s degree in? Correction: degrees. Jill graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor’s degree in 1975. She completer her Masters’ of Education, with a specialty in reading, at West Chester State College in 1981. Jill achieved her second graduate degree, a Masters of Arts in English, at Villanova University in 1987. With this education under her belt, she worked as a college community instructor for nearly 25 years when Joe had a suggestion. “Why don’t you go out and get a doctorate and make us some real money?” he said he told her, per the Los Angeles Times. So, she did. In 2007, at age 55, Jill earned her doctorate in education from the University of Delaware. That is why she is Dr. Jill Biden, thank you very much.

When did Jill and Joe Biden meet? “How did you get this number?” That was the first thing that Jill (née Jacobs) said to then-senator Joe Biden in 1975 when he called her out of the blue, per Harper’s Bazaar. Joe’s brother gave him the idea to reach out. At the time of the call, Jill was getting ready to go out on another day. “You said, ‘Do you think you could break your date?’ “ Dr. Biden recalled in a video for the 2020 Democratic National Convention. She did. “I called and told the guy I had a friend in from out of town, and went out with Joe.”

Three years before that call, Joe lost his first wife, Neilia Biden, and his one-year-old daughter, Naomi, in a horrible car accident. Jill herself was married before she and Joe started dating, and was still in college when she first met him. “I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door, and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, ‘God, this is never going to work, not in a million years,’” she told Vogue in 2016. “He was nine years older than I am! But we went out to see A Man and a Woman at the movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off. When we came home . . . he shook my hand good night . . . I went upstairs and called my mother at 1:00 a.m. and said, ‘Mom, I finally met a gentleman.’”

She and Joe have a daughter together. Joe proposed to Jill five times before she finally accepted. On June 17, 1977, they were married and took Joe’s sons from his first marriage, Beau and Hunter, on their honeymoon. Four years after tying the knot, the couple welcomed a daughter, Ashley Biden.

Dr. Biden continued to teach as the Second Lady. Not one to give up her career, Dr. Biden took a role as a professor at the Alexandria campus of the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). She continued to teach at NOVA throughout Joe’s two terms as Vice President and taught full-time at NOVA after he left office. She reluctantly took a leave of absence from NOVA in the 2020 spring semester to help the campaign. She has indicated, per the Washington Post, that she will resume teaching if Joe is elected, making her the first First Lady to have a paying job outside of the White House. Until the final votes are tallied, take a look at Dr. Biden’s amazing life and career in the gallery above.