first lady Jill Biden Visited promotional launch for Vice President Kamala Harris Addressed to teachers and union members at Penn Wood High School in Lansdowne. Delaware County Saturday.

The visit is part of a process weekend full of campaign events The hours are ticking towards election day in Pennsylvania.

Biden, a public university teacher With roots in the Philadelphia area, An enthusiastic crowd greeted the campaign stop, hosted by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and the Delaware County AFL-CIO. Biden waved to cheering volunteers who surrounded him behind a black rope in the high school gym. She was a union member herself, smiling, wearing a pink jacket over a floral dress, and fitting right in with the crowd.

“Because I have been a teacher for 40 years…” Biden began to say.

“Forty-four!” A participant in the crowd shouted, pulling him forward.

“There’s always one!” Biden joked and laughed along with his supporters. “I feel like you’re just family to me.”

“Yes we are,” someone replied.

Biden encouraged volunteers to think about how they felt the morning after the 2016 election and use that as motivation so they don’t regret not doing more this year.

“We can’t let this happen again,” he said of the former President. Donald TrumpWin against Hillary Clinton.

After his remarks, Biden walked around, greeted the participants and took photos with them. Some eager volunteers gathered near the First Lady and tried to take selfies with her in the background.

Before leaving after about 15 minutes, he shouted: “Thanks Pennsylvania!”

“There are a lot of votes to be had here.”

This wasn’t Jamal Johnson’s first time at the Penn Wood gym. The chairman of the Nether Providence Democratic Committee graduated from the school in 1996. Johnson said that although returning to school at the age of 46 makes him feel old, it brings back good memories. Rap Curry — a teacher, coach, activist, famous basketball player, and late husband of State Rep. Gina Curry — plays basketball at the same gym.

“It seems like everyone knows we’ve got a lot of votes to get here, a lot of energy, a lot of people to get to the polls, so it’s nice to see Delco get this recognition,” Johnson said.

Anndra Wilson, 38, a temporary political organizer and K-8 music teacher at Mayfair Elementary School in Northeast Philadelphia, said Trump’s agenda to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education would be harmful to her students and she fears the federal government. will no longer give free meals to students in low-income schools. He also hopes Democrat Malcolm Kenyatta wins the state auditor general race because He wants to bring back school inspections in Pennsylvania.

“It’s important to me to be on this team because education is the great equalizer, and if Trump takes away the Department of Education, that suddenly eliminates a lot of opportunities for my students,” Wilson said.

In an interview, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Pa.) compared Harris’ vice presidential nominee to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walzwho was once a teacher himself Trump’s counter stance Minister Joe BidenStudent loan forgiveness efforts and Ministry of Education.

“It is critical to our democracy that we have an informed electorate,” Scanlon said. “… It’s really important that we elevate our education rather than allowing it to fall to the lowest common denominator or be privatized.”

” READ MORE: We answered some of the most sought-after questions about the 2024 elections in Pennsylvania

Scanlon said his mother was a community college teacher, as was Biden, who taught at Northern Virginia Community College.

Some volunteers participating Saturday came from New York, aware of how important Pennsylvania, and especially the Philadelphia suburbs, could be to a national victory.

Evelyn DeJesus, 64, vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Biden’s appearance at the campaign launch was validating for union members.

“He’s one of us,” DeJesus said. “…We honor him, we respect him, and we love him very much.”

DeJesus, who is also president of the Latino Workforce Development Council, is also working to engage Latino voters. When he recently knocked on doors in Allentown to reach older voters, he said he found many Latinos who don’t speak fluent English were confused about the voting process. DeJesus, who lives in New York and works in DC, said he will be in Latin-rich Reading in the coming days.

“For Latino voters, I think it’s important for people to know that voting is an honor and a privilege and it’s like a religion,” he said. “When I was growing up, my mother accepted all of us—my grandmother, my mother, my father, my tias, my tios—my uncles—and we all took it very seriously.”

Aimee Serfaty, 60, wearing a T-shirt that read “Mommala for Moms,” woke up from Long Island at 4:30 a.m. to attend the event. Serfaty, a school counselor in Bayside Queens, said she supports Harris because she wants her children to have access to education, health care and reproductive rights.

“I think this is a really important time in our history, and I’m lucky to be able to get up early in the morning and come here, so here I am,” he said.