According to a senior Harris campaign official, former US President, Barack Obama plans to commence a 27-day campaign sprint for Vice President Kamala Harris next week.
Hoping his star power among Democrats can help propel Harris to the office he once held, Obama will hold a string of events across battleground states, with his first event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, October 10, 2024.
Obama will be appearing in the swing state after Republican nominee Donald Trump returns on Saturday to Butler, the Pennsylvania town where he survived an assassination attempt in July.
Obama remains one of the Democrats most powerful surrogates, second perhaps only to his wife, Michelle Obama.
His return to the campaign trail follows a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, in which he cast Harris as a forward-looking figure and a natural heir to his diverse, youth-powered political coalition.
Obama and Harris have been acquainted for 20 years. The energy fueling her candidacy and thunderous crowds chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s history-making 2008 run.
Aides to the former President say that his first memory of meeting Harris came during a California fundraising event for his 2004 Senate race.
Aside from rallies, an Obama aide noted that the former President intends to help Democrats by recording candidate-specific advertisements and lending his name to email solicitations for campaign cash, including for down-ballot races.
He headlined a $4 million fundraiser for Harris in Los Angeles last month.
Obama’s office also revealed that he has made three ads for Senate candidates: in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.
It is the first time this election that voters will see a Senate ad from Obama as Democrats try to keep hold of the chamber, where they hold a 51-49 advantage.
In the new ad for the Senate race in Michigan, called “Make You Proud,” Obama underscores Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin’s national security experience before she represented Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. The roughly minutelong ad will appear digitally and on radio stations statewide.
The 2024 election, in Obama’s view, is an “all hands on deck” moment, aides have said.
Obama Committed To Aiding Democrats
Eric Schultz, a senior Obama adviser said that the former President believes the stakes of this election could not be more consequential and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and Democrats across the country.
Obama’s goals, Schultz stated, are to win the White House, keep the U.S. Senate, and take back the House of Representatives. “Now that voting has begun, our focus is on persuading and mobilizing voters, especially in states with key races,” he added.
He asserted that nothing should be taken for granted as many of these races are likely to go down to the wire.
Harris’s campaign already includes several former Obama campaign staff, including strategist David Plouffe, Stephanie Cutter; who was Obama’s deputy campaign manager in 2012, and Mitch Stewart; Obama’s grassroots strategist for both campaigns. Stewart is Harris’s adviser for battleground states, among which Pennsylvania is a must-win for either side.
Key to winning Pennsylvania could be winning the Latino vote.
According to Penn State Professor, A K Sandoval-Strausz, about 90,000 Latino voters might still be undecided.
In 2020, Biden won the state by 80,000 votes – or a single point. In 2016, Trump took the state with just 44,292 votes.
According to the latest average of Pennsylvania polling from the Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Harris leads Trump by just 0.9 points in the state.
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