Former President Barack Obama will rally with Democratic candidates in Cleveland next weekend, as the party looks to flip Ohio. Obama will be joined by former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who’s running against Sen. Jon Husted, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton. She’s facing tech billionaire and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Sherrod Brown has always fought for working people,” Obama said in a video the Brown campaign posted Tuesday. “Standing up to big corporations, standing up to Wall Street, standing up to pharmaceutical companies, because Sherrod believes in the promise of America.”
He added the race was expected to be close. “It could determine which party controls the Senate and whether Ohioans can count on the people in Washington to be fighting for you,” Obama said. “Please join me in supporting Sherrod Brown. He'll always fight for Ohio.”
Obama is the biggest national political name by far to visit Ohio this election cycle, and indicates the party is optimistic it can win both the Senate and governor’s races in the Buckeye State. He remains one of the Democratic Party’s most popular figures but has not campaigned much ahead of the midterms so far. On the same day he’ll rally in Cleveland, Obama is also scheduled to campaign in Michigan, at a Detroit rally for Senate candidate Abdul Al-Sayed and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson.
And with President Trump and Ohio native Vice President JD Vance campaigning across the state in recent days (Trump was in Youngstown on Monday), it suggests the GOP has serious concerns about its midterm candidates. Trump continues to urge rally-goers to pretend he’s on the ballot, even as his favorability ratings crater.
With the midterm elections just over two weeks away, both parties are strategizing about how to best allocate their limited resources to try to tilt the electoral map in their favor. GOP groups have ended financial support for incumbents in New Jersey and Iowa, and Democratic PACs reallocated funds from North Carolina’s Senate race, sending $7 million to Ohio.
The Caucus currently ranks Ohio’s Senate race as a “toss up.” Early voting in the state began Tuesday.
(Photo: President Barack Obama, via Sherrod Brown YouTube)