Obama Campaigns in Ohio and Michigan, Attacking Trump and Ramaswamy as Midterms Near

Former President Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail with rallies in Ohio and Michigan, criticizing President Donald Trump and Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy while backing Democratic candidates in both states nine days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Obama spent most of his remarks on Trump, calling his second term “two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence.” He also took aim at Trump’s White House renovations, including a new ballroom, saying, “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. There’s gold everywhere.”

The Nov. 3 results will decide control of Congress. Obama won Ohio and Michigan in both of his presidential runs, in 2008 and 2012, but both states went to Trump in 2024. Polls cited by USA Today show Americans’ disapproval of Trump’s handling of the cost of living and gasoline prices has dragged down his approval rating.

Ohio: the Ramaswamy ad and the governor’s race

At a rally in Cleveland, Obama attacked Ramaswamy over a campaign ad released last week that features the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dr. Amy Acton calling her daughter “a liar.” Acton, the state’s former health director, has said she has not seen her mother since she was 12, after years of neglect and abuse. Her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with rape in 1978 for sexually abusing her.

“In recent days we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross. There is no low he will not sink to,” Obama said. “There’s a decency that we should expect out of our public officials and I don’t know what’s happening where the standards of behavior have gotten so low.”

The Ramaswamy campaign has said it will spend $4 million to run the ad through Election Day. Ramaswamy spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement to USA Today that “Obama and his liberal media allies are desperate to shield the least qualified candidate for governor in Ohio history, but we’re confident voters will see right through it.” Acton served as director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who also criticized the ad. Trump has defended the ad. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the governor’s race “lean Democratic.”

Ohio also has a Senate race that could help decide the Senate majority, between former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who hopes to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Brown has built his message around the “dignity of work,” a pitch aimed at the state’s manufacturing industry.

Michigan: backing El-Sayed in Detroit

Later in the day, Obama headed to Detroit for a rally with Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee, who faces former seven-term Rep. Mike Rogers. Rogers has courted Black voters in the state, while El-Sayed, a former Wayne County public health director, has struggled with outreach to the Black community since the primary, according to the Detroit Free Press. Obama also backed Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Jocelyn Benson.

El-Sayed was a critic of Obama’s White House tenure more than a decade ago, but has since praised his coalition building in Michigan. “I want to talk about this. Some of these folks say ‘Well, Abdul didn’t like some of the things you did as president.’ Let me tell you something: We are not going to agree on every detail of every issue,” Obama said. “You know who else doesn’t agree with everything I do? Michelle Obama. I’d say about five times a day.”

Obama also answered Republican criticism of El-Sayed’s positions, including his support for Medicare for All. “Wanting everybody to have health care. How is that radical? Wanting everyone to have a place to live that they can afford. How is that radical?” he said.

USA Today said it has reached out to the White House for comment on Obama’s remarks. Obama closed with a note about the mood he said he felt on the trail: “When you’ve worked as many elections as I have, you can tell when an election comes along that just feels a little bit different. An election where people are so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired that everywhere you go it feels like change is in the air.”

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today.