Democrats Turn to Obama as Trump Absent from Key Elections

As the final stretch of the midterm elections unfolds, Democrats are relying on a familiar figure to help deliver their closing pitches: former President Barack Obama. With President Donald Trump largely absent from the campaign trail, Obama's involvement is seen as a key factor in energizing the Democratic base and countering Trump's policies. Obama has been a go-to choice for Democrats, and his recent appearances in Virginia and New Jersey have sparked hopes that his efforts will yield a decisive rebuke of Trump's agenda.

Key Takeaways:

• Obama's involvement in the midterm elections is seen as a key factor in energizing the Democratic base and countering Trump's policies.
• Obama headlined a pair of campaign rallies for Democratic gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, focusing on the effects of the Trump administration's abuse of executive power.
• Voters who supported Trump in 2024 were "understandably frustrated with inflation and gas prices and the difficulty of affording a home and worries about their children's future," Obama said, but asked if anything had gotten better since then.
• Spanberger has largely campaigned on her career experience and bipartisan efforts in Congress, but Obama called on voters to use the Virginia election to signal to Trump and Republicans that their actions were hurting democracy and working Americans.
• Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, was one of several Virginia Democrats who also spoke at the Norfolk rally, despite his campaign being marred by a scandal over some of his text exchanges.
• Obama made a surprise call to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, offering to be a sounding board for Mamdani should he be elected, and discussing early plans to meet in person in Washington.
• Mamdani emerged victorious in the Democratic mayoral primary this summer, but faces intraparty hesitations over his Democratic Socialist candidacy.
• Democrats poll ahead in several key races, with Spanberger holding a 12-point lead over Earle-Sears in the latest Washington Post-Schar School poll of the gubernatorial contest.

Statistics:

• 12-point lead for Spanberger over Earle-Sears in the latest Washington Post-Schar School poll of the gubernatorial contest.
• 43% of likely New York City voters supported Mamdani and 33% supported Cuomo, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
• 911 likely voters were surveyed in the Quinnipiac University poll.
• Democrats are hoping the election delivers a decisive rebuke of Trump's policies.

Sources:

• The New York Times
• Washington Post
• Schar School
• Quinnipiac University