Former President Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail to stump for Democratic candidates in Georgia and beyond, hoping to boost the party’s chances in a number of consequential elections.
Obama is expected to appear alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who is seeking reelection, during events on Friday before traveling to other battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin over the weekend.
The packed schedule shows a revived motivation for the former president, who experienced massive losses during the midterm elections while he was in office, losing the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014.
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The deployment of Obama, who remains a popular figure among Democrats, comes as the party is seeking to defend its majorities in Congress and pick up key governorships ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Democrats have become wary of their chances in some key battleground races, particularly those in Georgia and Pennsylvania — with both states holding Senate elections that are set to determine which party will seize control of the upper chamber in November. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate majority leader, was caught on a hot mic on Thursday expressing concerns to President Joe Biden that races in those two states will come down to the wire.
“The state where we’re going downhill is Georgia,” Schumer was heard saying. “It’s hard to believe that they will go for Herschel Walker.”
“Barack is down there tomorrow,” Biden responded.
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His comments come as the Georgia Senate race between Warnock and Walker, who is backed by Trump, has tightened in recent weeks, with polling showing the two candidates in a dead heat.
Obama left office in 2017 with a 59% approval rating, which increased to 63% one year later in a Gallup post-presidential approval poll. Those numbers eclipse Biden’s favorability ratings, which remain in the low 40s as of October.
