Obamas will campaign with Kamala Harris for the first time

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – Democrat Kamala Harris will campaign alongside Barack and Michelle Obama in separate events for the first time next week, hoping to add some political star power in the final push to Election Day in November, a senior campaign official said.

The former president and his wife remain extremely popular with the Democratic base and are expected to be effective shutouts in the final stages of a campaign that rely on turnout from loyal Democrats in states where the chances of victory are slim are.

Polls show the presidential race between Harris and his Republican rival Donald Trump remains extremely close.

Michelle Obama will be running for the first time this election cycle, appearing alongside Harris in Michigan on Saturday, October 26th. In her uncompromising speech to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago earlier this year, the former first lady accused Trump of trying to scare his way into power.

Barack Obama will campaign with Harris next Thursday in Georgia. He has crisscrossed the battleground states, with a solo event recently in Pittsburgh and in Tucson, Las Vegas, Detroit and Madison in the coming days.

Barack Obama drew some criticism after his first campaign appearance when he admonished some black men for “not wanting to have a woman as president.”

Critics said his tone threatened to scapegoat some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters and alienate voters who were disillusioned but still persuadable.

Harris was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential bid in 2008, and he has helped her behind the scenes as the party’s standard-bearer in 2024.

Some believe the former president helped push President Joe Biden out of the race after Democratic concerns about the 81-year-old leader’s age and abilities skyrocketed following his June debate against Trump.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Tom Hogue)