Former President Barack Obama is campaigning Saturday with Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Ohio and Michigan. Both states are highly competitive and will help decide who controls the Senate, according to The Associated Press 1.
Cleveland, then Detroit
Obama's first event is in Cleveland with Sherrod Brown, a former three-term Ohio senator. Brown is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted 1. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor, will also appear. She is running against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 1.
Obama then goes to Detroit for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official. El-Sayed faces former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers 1. Michigan's Democratic nominee for governor, Jocelyn Benson, is also expected to appear. She is running against Republican Rep. John James 1.
Ohio has become more reliably Republican in recent years, but the AP says it has been a hotly contested battleground this year. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both visited in recent weeks to boost Husted and Ramaswamy 1.
From Channel GOPEl-Sayed lists Mike Rogers' corporate donorsAbdul El-Sayed · 140 plays · captioned, with the source named
Brown lost his seat two years ago to Republican Bernie Moreno. The seat Husted holds was once held by Vance 2. In a video for Brown, Obama said the race could decide which party controls the Senate 2.
This race is going to be close. It could determine which party controls the Senate.
Uniting Michigan Democrats
El-Sayed won a divisive August primary by less than one percentage point. He is now working to unite the Democratic base 1. His primary opponent, Haley Stevens, won Wayne County, which includes Detroit, by about 6 percentage points 1.
Detroit is three-quarters Black. The AP says Obama's visit could bolster support for El-Sayed among Black voters 1. Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned for El-Sayed in September 1.
El-Sayed and Obama have not always agreed. After Obama's 2012 reelection, El-Sayed wrote that Obama "was not the right choice — he just wasn't the wrong one" 1. Earlier this month he called Obama "foundational" to his ability to run for office, but said he disagreed with parts of his presidency 1.
It’s a normal thing to love somebody, to really appreciate all that they’ve done, and to say, ‘Hey, here are some things I would have done differently,’
What happens next
Obama will headline a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms, a candidate for governor. Trump is scheduled to speak in Georgia on Saturday 1.
That matters because Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House. Democrats need to flip Senate seats to check them, and both Ohio and Michigan are on that list. A former president known to many older voters is a tool for turnout in the last days. Early voting is already under way in many states.
The Record
Sources
- ABC News (AP), “Obama is set to campaign with Democrats in Ohio and Michigan as he ramps up midterm efforts” (2026-10-24). abcnews.com/Politics/wireStory/obama-set-campaign-democrats-
- TheGrio, “Barack Obama heads to Ohio as Democrats battle for control of the Senate” (2026-10-14). thegrio.com/2026/10/14/barack-obama-ohio-sherrod-brown-amy-a
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