Jill Biden to attend Game 4 of the World Series in Philadelphia
By Maegan Vazquez and Kate Bennett, CNN
First lady Dr. Jill Biden will attend Game Four of the World Series in Philadelphia on Wednesday, serving as a representative of the White House’s cancer initiative while also getting a chance to root on her Philadelphia Phillies.
The first lady will attend the game as part of the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, where she’ll “join players, umpires, coaches, and fans in Major League Baseball’s annual Game four tradition of honoring those affected by cancer as part of the league’s support and partnership with Stand Up To Cancer,” the White House said in a statement.
The Phillies are tied with the Houston Astros at a game a piece in the 2022 edition of the Fall Classic. The Phillies took the first game of the series in extra innings in what was an instant classic, but the Astros bounced back to win 5-2 Saturday night’s game to even up the series. Game Three of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Tuesday in Philadelphia after being rained out on Monday.
Game Four of the series shifted to Wednesday as a result of the rain out. Due to the timing of the political events, Biden will not make it to the Phillies game until approximately the third inning, a White House official told CNN.
Biden’s visit to cheer on the Phillies marks her second trip to the commonwealth to attend a professional sports game in about two weeks. Earlier this month, she participated in the pre-NFL game coin toss prior to the start of a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field. Biden was also at that game for a cancer awareness event. Some of the notoriously tough Philadelphia fans booed her during the coin toss of that game.
The first lady has made her love of the Phillies well known, bringing it up in official speeches and recently sporting a Phillies jersey when she walked off Air Force One.
The first lady’s return to the city, where she has longstanding ties, comes as both she and other members of the Biden administration have made more concerted efforts to be in Pennsylvania ahead of the midterm elections. The state is home to one of the tightest Senate races in the country — with Democratic former Lt. Gov. John Fetterman up against Republican Mehmet Oz.
President Joe Biden has visited Pennsylvania several times for a mix of official and political events in the run-up to the elections, an effort which stands in contrast to his approach of less frequent in-person appearances in many other states with competitive races around the country.
Most recently, President Biden visited Philadelphia as part of a joint campaign appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday — his 19th visit to the commonwealth since taking office.
The president, who was born in Pennsylvania and was jokingly called its “third senator” when he was a lawmaker representing Delaware in Congress, has also made it clear that he’s supporting the Phillies.
During his speech in Philadelphia on Friday, the President pulled up a pant-leg to show a red Phillies sock.
This story has been updated with additional reporting following the rainout of Monday’s scheduled game.
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CNN’s Jacob Lev contributed to this report.
