PITTSBURGH — Former President Barack Obama began his first campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania in the short time left in the 2024 election season against former President Donald Trump.
“Kamala is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been,” said Obama, who has known Harris since he was campaigning for the Senate in 2004.
More than 4,600 people attended the event, which was headlined by Obama and featured other Democratic politicians, including Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis, and Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey.
All of the speakers pushed the need to get out the vote, with Obama responding to every boo from the crowd by saying, “Don’t boo, go vote.”
“Do not sit back on the couch, and vote. Get off your phones and vote,” said Obama. “Because if enough of us make our voices heard we’ll leave no doubt about the election. We’ll leave no doubt about who we are and what America stands for.”
Donald Trump castigating gets center-stage
More of Obama’s speech was tailored toward criticizing the 45th president than uplifting Harris’s forward-looking vision.
“Donald Trump wants us to think this country is hopelessly divided,” said Obama early in his speech, “because having people divided and angry boosts his chances of being elected, and he doesn’t care who gets hurt.”
Obama also said that Trump was not the leader of economic prosperity that he claims to be.
“I spent eight years cleaning up the mess the Republicans left me the last time. So just in case everyone has a hazy memory, he didn’t do nothin’,” Obama said.
The former president also acknowledged that there “are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there,” largely because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So I get it, why people are looking to shake things up. I mean, I am the ‘hopey changey’ kinda guy,” said Obama. “What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that Donald Trump is the one who would shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania.”
Obama compared Trump’s “two-hour word salad” speeches to Fidel Castro and openly laughed at Trump’s marketing of golden tennis shoes
“You can’t make this stuff up. If you saw it on Saturday Night Live, you’d say it was going too far,” he said.
Earlier in the afternoon, Obama campaigned in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, particularly reaching out to black male voters who have been swinging toward Trump in this election cycle.
Obama criticized Trump both as disparaging of black history in America and of women‘s rights.
“And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable,” said Obama.
Obama boosts the Harris-Walz campaign
Attendees of the event told the Washington Examiner that Obama’s presence with the Harris-Walz ticket will be a significant boost.
Salmata Alghali, a Michigan resident, told the Washington Examiner that she has sold Kamala Harris T-shirts at several other Harris-Walz campaign events. She said this event was uniquely energetic, though, because of Obama’s appearance.
“I knew that when he was speaking he was going to have a big turnout,” said Alghali. “Everyone loves Obama. People ask for his merchandise even at her rallies.”
When asked if Obama could potentially outshine Harris as a candidate, Charles Jasper, a 33-year-old professor at Chatham University, told the Washington Examiner that he believed Obama would only add to the hope that Harris restored in the Democratic Party following President Joe Biden’s decision to bow out of the race.
“I respect Joe Biden. I appreciate everything he did, but he wasn’t a very hopeful candidate this time around,” said Jasper. “She brings hope. She makes people excited, and Tim Walz makes people excited. So I think Obama will just keep on bringing fuel to the fire.”
According to Obama’s office, grassroots fundraising content featuring the former president has generated more than $80 million so far for the presidential campaign during the 2024 election season.
The Harris-Walz campaign’s decision to launch Obama’s first public speaking event for the season in Pennsylvania was strategic.
Pennsylvania’s coveted 19 Electoral College votes are the most of any swing state currently in play, making it essential for either candidate to win next month.
Obama did exceedingly well in Pennsylvania, winning the state by about 10 percentage points in 2008 against John McCain and more than 5 points in 2012 against Mitt Romney.
But the Keystone State swung very slightly toward Trump in 2016, when he won it with a 0.7% lead over Hilary Clinton. President Joe Biden won the coveted swing state by a narrow 1.2% in 2020.
Voters in the stands frequently chanted, “We are not going back,” a tagline used by Harris in reference to what she and other Democrats characterize as Trump’s goal to take the country backward.
Obama pitching in for “all hands on deck moment”
A spokesperson for Obama’s office told reporters before the event that the former Democrat standard bearer has called this an “all hands on deck moment” in the homestretch of election season.
Obama emphasized during the speech that his goal is to mobilize voters in key swing states up and down the ticket, referencing by name Democrats for auditor general and other state-level administrative positions.
The spokesperson for the former president informed reporters that Obama’s ultimate hope would be to keep a majority in the U.S. Senate and win back a majority in the House of Representatives.
David, a Pittsburgh resident and business consultant who preferred not to give his last name, told the Washington Examiner that he believes Harris is going to win Pennsylvania and said Obama’s first appearance in Pittsburgh will help with that goal.
“His presence bears a lot of weight within the community, and I think people respect Obama quite a bit,” David said.
The support of local leaders also added weight to the evening’s proceedings.
Both Davis and Gainey are the first black men to win their respective offices in Pennsylvania, echoing the achievements of both Obama and Harris in their racial groundbreaking statuses.
Casey in the spotlight, too
Casey, who introduced Obama, also received star-power support from both Obama and Shapiro, particularly for his role in getting Obamacare through the Senate in 2010.
Obama called Casey “my buddy” when encouraging attendees to vote for down-ballot Democrats, saying that the party needs more Democrats in office at all levels of government.
The 44th president said that Casey “is not a show pony,” saying that he gets the job done.
“All he cares about is doing the job,” said Obama, adding that he is the guy to help Harris govern after she wins.
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Obama also said that Casey would be a deciding vote in codifying abortion rights at the national level, a key goal of Harris in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Casey currently leads his Republican challenger, businessman Dave McCormick, by a margin of approximately four points, according to RealClearPolitics averages. But the margin for error in keeping a Democrat majority in the Senate is so slim that every race could prove decisive.
