Obama Urges Voters to Support Democrats in Virginia & New Jersey Gubernatorial Races 🗳️

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is encouraging voters to elect Democrats as governor in Virginia and New Jersey in elections this Tuesday that could signal the national mood 10 months into Donald Trump’s second presidency and a year ahead of midterm elections that could reshape it.

Obama's Saturday appearances for Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill contrast with Trump spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, leaving Republicans Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia and Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey to campaign for themselves.

At the same time, California advocates were making a final push ahead of a statewide referendum over whether to redraw the state’s congressional map in Democrats’ favor. The effort backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom is part of a national redistricting battle that began when Trump urged GOP-run states to help him keep a friendly House majority in 2026.

At an afternoon rally in Norfolk, Obama praised Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA case officer, as a hard worker who would improve Virginians' financial circumstances and quality of life. Yet he focused much of his half-hour-plus on stage lambasting Trump for “lawlessness and recklessness” and “shambolic” economic policy, while urging voters to “set a glorious example for the nation” by rebuking Trump and nominees loyal to him.

“The stakes are now clear,” Obama said. “We don't need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy. We don't need to ask ourselves how much more coarse and mean our culture can become. Elections matter, and they matter to you.”

Obama was scheduled to appear Saturday evening in Newark with Sherrill.

Earle-Sears, currently Virginia's lieutenant governor, and Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, had busy schedules of their own to counter Democrats' large rallies. Ciatarelli's sharpest closing arguments nodded to Sherrill’s ubiquitous inclusion of her experience as a Navy helicopter pilot and her frequent attacks on Trump.

“Her disdain for the president. And she can fly a helicopter. Is any of that going to fix new Jersey?” Ciattarelli said Saturday in suburban Westfield.

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