Former President Barack Obama is set to lend his star power to Kamala Harris’s election campaign on Thursday, aiming to energize voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania.
Obama will campaign in Pittsburgh, a steel city, just a day after Harris’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, held a rally in the vital state.
As one of the most influential figures in the Democratic Party, Obama will focus on encouraging early voting, whether in-person or by mail, as Harris works to secure as many votes as possible in this competitive race.
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On Wednesday, Trump rallied in Scranton, Pennsylvania—the hometown of President Joe Biden—before moving on to Detroit, Michigan, another key battleground state.
While addressing blue-collar voters in Scranton, Trump emphasized his energy policy with a “drill, baby, drill” mantra and criticized Harris on economic issues.
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Meanwhile, Harris will travel to Nevada to engage with Latino voters, although the White House has indicated she will remain updated throughout the day regarding Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida late Wednesday.
Biden has warned that the storm could be the “storm of the century.”
Obama’s visit to Pennsylvania marks the beginning of a month-long campaign effort for Harris across seven pivotal states that are expected to determine the outcome of the 2024 election.
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Currently, Harris and Trump are in a tight race, both nationally and in battleground states like Pennsylvania.
Harris’s campaign is counting on the support of Obama, who served as president from 2009 until January 2017, to rally Black and young voters as she seeks an advantage ahead of the November 5 election.
A key focus of Obama’s message will be to promote early voting in what is shaping up to be a closely contested election.
Trump, on the other hand, has frequently criticized mail-in voting, linking it to his loss to Biden in 2020, which he continues to dispute.
Despite his campaign’s attempts to promote early voting, Trump has expressed skepticism about it on multiple occasions.
“President Obama 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,” said Eric Schultz, Obama’s senior advisor, in a statement.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama received enthusiastic responses while endorsing Harris.
Obama highlighted Harris’s groundbreaking position as the first woman, Black, and South Asian vice president, describing her as the political heir to his legacy.
He rallied the crowd with chants of “Yes she can,” a play on his own 2008 campaign slogan, while cautioning that the 2024 election would likely remain competitive in a divided country.
In addition to his campaigning efforts, Obama has raised over $76 million for the Democratic ticket in this year’s presidential race.
He officially endorsed Harris, 59, following Biden’s unexpected withdrawal from the race in July.
