Thread by @asanderford

Back on the trail today in #Nebraska’s slice of the presidential race.

The @JoeBiden campaign is making its first in-person visit with surrogates to #Nebraska. They’re visiting a neighborhood that straddles both #NE01 and #NE02. The spouses of Biden and @KamalaHarris are hosting a discussion with veterans and military families near @Offutt_AFB.

They have arrived, @DrBiden and @DouglasEmhoff. They’re being introduced by Sarpy County Democratic Party chair and retired Air Force Master Sgt. Charlene Ligon.

Doug Emhoff, @KamalaHarris' husband: We have 38 days, folks, to elect a president who knows how to send a child off to war. He knows what it means to be commander in chief. It's why he holds a note card in the pocket of his jacket with him at all times of lives lost in service.

Emhoff: The VA must be the premiere provider of health care services. We will strengthen it. The VA must provide veterans with world-class care they deserve in every situation, period. That will happen when Joe and Kamala are elected.

Emhoff: He won't do this alone. He'll do it with the next First Lady, Jill Biden. They have already worked to help military families and spouses. She and Joe will work with military families and be there for them.

Emhoff: Will make sure they have access to the resources they need, from supporting military families education to making sure they get world-class health care.

Emhoff: Joe and Jill Biden love this country with every fiber of their being. That is reflected in their love for the people who serve it. My wife, Kamala Harris, has also been a champion for these communities, and I know she'll do that as Vice President.

Emhoff: He will be clear-eyed in his mission to protect them and their families. That will be his last thought when he goes to sleep. There's a reason he ends his speeches with "May God protect our troops."

Jill Biden: We will work to rebuild trust with the American people, and we are so glad to have you and Kamala as part of the Biden partnership. (Thanks host.)

Biden: Like so many service members, your dedication to our country and our communities didn't stop when your service did. Good morning Omaha. It's an honor to be with you today. (We're in Papillion, an Omaha suburb.) My father served in WW2. My son served in Iraq.

Biden: The answer was easy. I wanted to nationalize the work I had already been doing in my home state of Delaware, a grassroots org of moms and spouses coming together to support the military. That was what Michelle Obama wanted to do as well. We launched Joining Forces.

Biden: That was our nationwide initiative to rally people around veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors. Wanted to support them through education and outreach and connecting them with needed services.

Biden: I've been continually inspired by your strength, your courage and your resolve. Been a teacher for years (she teaches at a community college). Stories don't have to make us angry or afraid.

Biden: They can inspire us and share our similarities. We are capable of beautiful empowerment. This year, it's been hard not to be discouraged. More than 200k lives lost. The chaos of Donald Trump's America. We have other stories to tell, too.

Biden: My father enlisted in WW2 at the age of 17. I realized just how difficult that must have been for her after my son joined the National Guard and had to go serve in Iraq. I understand that mix of pride and fear that fills the heart of a military mom.

Biden: Thanks to the GI bill, my dad was able to go to business school in Philly and moved our family to a suburb of Philly. My mom was a stay at home mom and raised five daughters. That was my American dream. Where military service was a path to a better life.

Biden: Joe saw the power of that dream in his own family. In so many ways, this election is about that story, how to make sure every family has the same opportunities that we did. That has to be true for those who sacrifices in service to the nation.

Biden: "We will never stop working to make sure that this community has what it needs."

Biden: We're going to make sure service members get the GI bill benefits they need, the help they need, the health care and mental health care they need. Veterans will have all they need to thrive.

Biden: It's a matter of national security. If I have the honor of serving as your First Lady, this work will be one of my first priorities. We came here today to listen to you. And thank you for all you do and continue to do in your community.

Bud Pettigrew, retired Marine from Cherry County, Nebraska, is speaking. He's a teacher now. He's talking about the need for educators to be a team. Says his military experience taught him how to be a team.

Next up is Kaycee Greninger, a spouse of an active duty military member based @Offutt_AFB. She says spouses are dealing with kids being home for learning because of COVID, some are dealing with housing problems, hard to work. Says food prices are going up. It's hard.

Biden: We will be paying attention. It's a disgrace that our military families would be food insecure. I've heard it over and over again about the mental health. It's a major problem. I've seen the housing. Michelle and I traveled the country and internationally. We can do better

Next up is Erik Servellon, who deployed to Afghanistan with the Nebraska Army National Guard as a Flight Medic Sergeant in 2016. He's telling Biden and Emhoff about his difficulties reacclimating to life in the civilian world and finding the mental health care he needed.

Biden: We have to do better. You're in two different places.

Samantha Servellon, Erik's wife, is talking about the difficulty of the adjustment back because she didn't really understand what he'd been through and she was adjusting to her first year of teaching. "It was a hard year."

Kerry and Wayne Lainof are talking now about being a career person in the Air Force. She's a retired nurse. Everywhere we went, I managed to have a good job. One of the most difficult things was making sure the licensing and credentials follow them around.

Biden: That's one thing we changed. We're going to pick up other things like this and see what people need now. We will ask how we can further support you.

(I missed an exchange about the children having to adapt to new sports teams and schools and places to live and new friend groups.)

Biden: When we say how can we support you. This pandemic creates so much anxiety. People need to know what military life is like, the sacrifices you make for this country. You should have the best of everything. Jobs. Great housing. Education. That's what you deserve.

Robert Ligon, served with Charlene in the Air Force: I remember Charlene singing to our kids when we were moving again about making new friends. My oldest daughter and oldest son were in the service.

Robert Ligon: As an academic adviser, the military folks that I see are far and above better trained, generally more educated because of their training. They have a notion of wanting to continue to serve.

Biden: My community college has a military center. All should have a center for veterans. One of the things I ask on the first day, who served or is serving. I want the other people in the class to recognize who they are and that they've served for this country.

Biden: A lot of our students didn't have Internet, which is one of the things Joe is going to fix. This pandemic has really put a spotlight on some of these inequities. Education. We will focus on military child education, for sure. I'm an educator.

Here’s how it looks now.

There is one man sitting on his deck nearby, flying his Trump-Pence flag. He said he respected his neighbor’s ability to hold the event. He said he’s voting for Trump in part because of appointments to the Supreme Court.

The Biden group is wrapping up. They're talking about the troubles getting access to the VA to get in. One talked about long waits for well child checks. Biden and Emhoff said they'd take their concerns back and work on them.

Statement from @NEGOP executive director, Ryan Hamilton: I can’t think of anything less inspiring than an event featuring the two spouses of the Democratic field’s least capable and least popular figures. Nebraskans won’t be conned into supporting Hidin’ Joe Biden by these two.

Biden is closing: "We will take care of your families because we understand. The Bidens are a military family."

Preya Samsundar of the @GOP and @TrumpVictoryNE, said: “After months of ignoring the nation’s heartland, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris still can’t be bothered to visit Iowa and Nebraska."

Samsundar: "Unfortunately for them, parachuting Doug Emhoff and Jill Biden at the 11th hour will do nothing to improve their chances. Tired of being taken for granted, Iowans and Nebraskans will show Biden and Harris what happens when you treat their states as flyover country..."

Samsundar: " ... when they send President Trump back to the White House in November.”

(Jill Biden and Emhoff are headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, next for an event, to explain the GOP person's quote.) Thanks for following along. Story coming to @OWHnews.

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