Obama Hits the Campaign Trail, Urging Voters to Rein In Trump in the Midterms
With ten days left before elections that will decide control of Congress, Barack Obama rallied Democrats in Ohio and Michigan, accusing President Donald Trump of corruption and casting the November 3 vote as a check on his presidency.
Key Points
- Obama campaigned Saturday in Cleveland and Detroit, ten days before the November 3 midterm elections
- He framed the vote as a circuit breaker that would bring accountability to the Trump administration
- In Michigan he backed Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers
Former President Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail on Saturday, headlining rallies in Cleveland and Detroit as Democrats make their closing argument in the final stretch of the midterm elections. With control of the closely divided Congress at stake on November 3, Obama told supporters that the election should be treated as a referendum on President Donald Trump and his administration, urging voters to flip what he called the circuit breaker and restore accountability in Washington.
In Michigan, Obama appeared on behalf of Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is locked in a tight race against Republican Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative. Democrats are counting on Obama, who remains one of the party's most popular figures, to energize their base in a contest that could help determine which party controls the Senate. In Ohio, he also campaigned for Democratic candidates including gubernatorial hopeful Amy Acton and former Senator Sherrod Brown, as his party tries to regain a foothold in a state that has trended Republican in recent cycles.
Obama's speeches were sharply critical of the president. He accused Trump of corruption and of profiting from his office, pointing to the president's family business dealings, and he argued that the Republican Party now stands for corrupt, inept, or absent government. He also derided the administration's strategy toward Iran, arguing that the conflict has handed Tehran leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route for the world's oil, and he mocked the gold-toned renovations Trump has brought to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The former president's message lands as polling suggests public skepticism about the president's conduct. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in August found that 63 percent of Americans believed the president and his family had inappropriately profited from cryptocurrency since Trump returned to the White House, and 69 percent believed his policy decisions are influenced by his private business dealings. Democrats have made those themes central to their midterm pitch, arguing that a Democratic Congress would investigate the administration and block its agenda.
The Ohio stop also carried a sharper edge. Obama condemned an advertisement from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that featured Acton's estranged mother accusing her of lying about her childhood, saying there had to be some office not worth stooping that low to win. Acton, in turn, told the crowd that in Ohio people work hard and look out for one another, and accused her opponent of being out for himself. Republicans pushed back, with a spokesperson for Senator Jon Husted arguing that policies backed by Obama and Brown had raised taxes and enabled chaos at the southern border, and warning that seeing the two Democrats together again should send shivers down Ohioans' spines.
Trump, for his part, has told voters to treat the midterms as if his own name were on the ballot, and he spent Saturday campaigning as well, voting early in Florida before flying to a rally in Georgia. The dueling appearances by the sitting president and his Democratic predecessor underscored how nationalized the midterms have become. The November 3 elections will determine whether Republicans keep control of Congress for the final two years of Trump's presidency or whether Democrats win a platform to challenge it.
