Former President Barack Obama on Saturday seized on what he described as cruelty and indecency coming from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, stepping into one of the nation's ugliest midterm fights as he worked to rally Democratic voters in battleground Ohio.
Obama took specific aim at Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has doubled down on an advertising campaign featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival
Dr. Amy Acton. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also defended the ad, even as Republican leaders across Ohio, including Gov. Mike DeWine, have called for its removal.
“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said of Ramaswamy, noting that Acton has “spoken movingly about her painful childhood and all she’s experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.”
“There’s a decency we should expect out of our public officials,” Obama continued. “And I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”
Obama, 65, who remains the Democratic Party’s best motivator nearly a decade after leaving the White House, was set to campaign in Michigan later Saturday night. The midwestern battlegrounds will help determine the balance of power in American politics on Nov. 3, when the final votes are cast in the 2026 midterm elections.
Obama shared the stage with Acton and former three-term Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is looking to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
Although Ohio has become more reliably Republican, it's been a hotly contested battleground this year. Trump and Vance have both visited the state in recent weeks to drum up support for Husted and Ramaswamy. And the controversy over Ramaswamy's ad has ratcheted up the already high temperature.
Ramaswamy has defended his decision to press ahead with the ad as fair game. Appearing before Obama, Acton spoke as if addressing Ramaswamy directly.
“My opponent has chosen to exploit, intentionally, my childhood to save his stumbling campaign, but it’s not going to work," she said. “ Decency still matters.” She added: “Mr. Ramaswamy, you are not just out of touch, you are out for yourself and you are a danger to my state. Apparently there is no low to which you won’t stoop.”
After wrapping up in Ohio, Obama was heading to a rally in Detroit for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who is working to unite the Democratic base in Michigan after winning a divisive primary by less than a percentage point. El-Sayed is running against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican.
Obama’s appearance in the city, which is three-quarters Black, could bolster support for El-Sayed among Black voters. In the primary, his opponent Haley Stevens won Wayne County, which includes Detroit, by about 6 percentage points. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian vice president, campaigned for El-Sayed in September.
El-Sayed criticized Obama after his 2012 reelection for not following through on all of his progressive campaign promises, writing that Obama “was not the right choice — he just wasn’t the wrong one.”
El-Sayed told reporters earlier this month he appreciated the former president, calling him “foundational” to his ability to run for office, but there were still elements of Obama's presidency he disagreed with.
Michigan also has open races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, is slated to appear along with others down the ballot. Benson is running against Republican Rep. John James.
Obama will headline a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump is slated to speak in Georgia Saturday.
In Ohio, Obama also called out Trump's inability to lower costs, a key campaign promise, noting that the president has instead focused on building a new White House ballroom and helipad on the South Lawn.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovation," he quipped. “He should be on HGTV.” He went on: “There's gold everywhere. He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
The former Democratic president acknowledged that the nation has Trump for another two years, until his term ends. But voters are not stuck with Trump’s allies, he said.
“We’re not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who are handling lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference for working people,” Obama said. “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence … you get a chance to say enough is enough.”
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Peoples reported from New York. GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
