Obama Campaigns for Democrats in Final 5 Days as Midterms Test Trump’s 2nd-Term Power
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Nov 1
Obama Campaigns for Democrats in Final 5 Days as Midterms Test Trump’s 2nd-Term Power
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Nov 1
Summary
Barack Obama has joined Democrats’ closing midterm push, campaigning in Michigan and Georgia with a message that the vote is the party’s “last, best chance” to check Donald Trump.
Democratic strategists held Obama back until the final stretch, betting his star power could lift turnout among young and Black voters after candidates had already built their own identities.
Obama has paired that turnout pitch with sharp attacks on Trump, mocking his White House gold decor and arguing Republicans mounted a “whole-of-government response” to a Cheesecake Factory joke instead of tackling inflation.
His return also helps bridge party factions: in Michigan he campaigned for progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, while even some Obama critics on the left say his appeal remains tactically valuable against Trump.
With Congress’s balance of power at stake for the rest of Trump’s second term, Democrats are also deploying Kamala Harris and Bill Clinton, but Obama remains their most potent late-stage campaign surrogate.