Democrats win Virginia and New Jersey governor races after Obama rallies

Former President Barack Obama He resumed campaigning in the 11th hour of the 2025 election cycle, rallying support for a pair of Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey before successfully defeating their Republican opponents.

“Congratulations to all the Democratic candidates who won tonight. It’s a reminder that when we come together around strong leaders who look to the future and care about the issues that matter, we can win,” Obama wrote Tuesday as the election was called and Democrats were given victory in a handful of high-profile elections. “We still have a lot of work to do, but the future is looking a little brighter.”

The former president’s star power was touted as likely to give a boost to Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey in the lead-up to Tuesday, though his presence became merely a “side note” as the Trump administration and its economic policies loomed large over both campaigns.

“The further away we get from an Obama presidency, the more people think he’s underachieved. I don’t think a lot of voters are looking back, even if Obama is still an iconic voice within the party,” former senior counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, Julian Epstein, told Fox News Digital when asked about Obama’s presence at campaign rallies, saying the president was more of a “side note” amid the campaign.

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Former President Barack Obama mobilized support for the only Democratic duo running for governor in 2025, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. (Stephanie Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Obama endorsed both Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill in October in a video endorsement touting their leadership, while also criticizing the Trump administration and Republicans. Obama has long served as the Democratic Party’s campaign closer and battleground states to rally support in local, state and federal elections since leaving the White House in 2017.

Obama has maintained that momentum in 2025, with the party overall still navigating its way forward with new leadership after former Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss to the president. Donald Trump.

Democrats are currently benefiting from “anti-Trump energy,” Epstein said, noting that “60% of Virginians think the local economy is good but two-thirds think the country is headed in the wrong direction.”

He added: “This is an extraordinary paradox, and it means that people do not believe that Trump is achieving good results in the field of the economy.” “We still have 3% inflation, and very few voters believe their overall economic situation is improving.”

The Democrat added that economic and affordability concerns weighed heavily on voters heading to the polls just one year after Trump was elected in an election that also focused largely on the economy and inflation problems under Biden.

“What that should tell Trump is that there is too much noise and too much distraction, and he needs to focus on getting the economy to grow,” he said. “That means getting trade deals done as quickly as possible, getting tariffs down, and letting the economy rebound after the tax cuts in deregulation.”

“First and foremost, Republicans won because voters trust them more on the economy,” he said of the 2024 election. “They need to prove that this trust was not misplaced. All of this would have remained the same whether Obama attended or not.”

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a ceremony at the Pentagon on September 11, 2025. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

In New Jersey, voters report that the state’s high taxes are known and economy Their top issues were headed to the polls, according to Fox News exit poll data. In Virginia, half of voters reported the economy as their top issue, more than double the number who reported health care as their top concern, according to Fox poll data.

The Virginia and New Jersey campaigns both focused on mocking the Trump administration as leading the United States down the wrong path, including both candidates pledging to ease affordability issues and the statewide housing crisis as they fight White House policies regarding their states. Obama also shared criticism of the Trump administration during his pitch to voters.

“Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year. We know that Republicans will continue to attack abortion rights and women’s rights. That’s why having the right governor is important, and I’m proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger,” Obama said in an announcement endorsing the Democratic candidate for Virginia.

“Republican policies raise costs for working families so billionaires can get massive tax cuts,” he said in another ad endorsing Spanberger.

A few days after publishing the ads, Obama began his election campaign in the states to which the two candidates belong. Obama first traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday to attend Spanberger’s rally before heading to New Jersey to participate in a rally in Newark to support Sherrill’s candidacy. In both speeches, Obama focused his remarks on mocking the Trump administration and presenting the Democratic election as an opportunity to vote against Republican and MAGA policies.

“Let’s face it, our country and our politics are in a very dark place right now,” Obama told a Newark audience on Saturday.

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“Every day, this White House delivers a new batch of chaos, recklessness, evil spirit, and plain insanity,” he said at both rallies.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on October 6, 2025 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital traveled to Newark for Sherrill’s rally featuring Obama, where attendees celebrated that they believed Sherrill would win the election while noting that Obama’s presence only helped increase support. The crowds at the Newark, New Jersey, rally were so large that some supporters were turned away at the door of the rally held in the gymnasium of a local community college.

One voter, Alexis from South Jersey, told Fox News Digital: “I heard Barack Obama was going to be here. And I love Barack Obama, so I came here for that.” “But I support Mikey too.”

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Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, U.S. Rep. Mickey Sherrill (D.N.J.) during a rally in Newark, New Jersey, on November 1, 2025. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“I want to hear Obama,” Robert, another attendee from Spring Lake, told Fox Digital before the election. “I think a lot of people want to hear from Obama. Wouldn’t it be great to have a message of hope at this time?”

Both candidates scored victories over their Republican rivals as part of the blue wave during the 2025 off-year election cycle, which also delivered a victory for New York City’s socialist mayor-elect Zahran Mamdani in another high-profile election.

Former Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is running for the Kentucky Senate to replace the late Sen. Mitch McConnell, told Fox Digital that Democrats are still in the midst of finding their footing after their loss in the 2024 election and bolstering Obama’s star power to help carry power. My ruler Candidates cross the finish line.

“I think when it comes to the Democratic Party, they’re certainly trying to figure out what their next steps are, and that means they’re bringing in people from the past and making them part of the conversation,” Cameron told Fox News Digital in an interview on Thursday. “We have a standard-bearer within the Republican Party, and we have now in the White House, a standard-bearer that is President Trump.”

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Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks during a press conference in 2020. (John Cherry/Getty Images)

He said: “President Trump has the loudest voice in the party. And you know that his voice is much greater than that of former President Obama.”

Bradley Devlin, political editor at the Daily Signal, added that whatever the “Obama bump” looks like — assuming there is one at all — it will not “make up for the fact that it was Obama who set the Democratic Party on a path to extremism, sided with the 20 on 80-20 issues, and created the foundations for the rise of Trump and the return of conservative politics and American values.”

Trump did not actually campaign New Jersey Or Virginia. He endorsed the candidacy of New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli and participated in virtual tele-rallies ahead of the election. Additionally, Trump did not endorse Virginia Republican Winsome candidate Earl Sears, instead encouraging Virginians to vote for Old Dominion GOP candidates across the board during a telephone rally where the president did not mention Earl Sears by name.

The president wrote on Truth Social late Tuesday as the election results came in, with unspecified pollsters reporting that Republicans lost the election because Trump was not physically on the ballot, as well as the shutdown issues that have continued since then. October 1.

“Americans are grappling with affordability because it was Joe Biden and the Democrats who created the worst inflation crisis in decades,” White House spokesman Khush Desai told Fox News Digital when asked about the election.

Desai continued: “Putting this inflation crisis behind us was a priority on President Trump’s first day. The administration’s supply-side economic agenda has already cooled inflation to an annual rate of 2.5 percent — half the average inflation rate under Joe Biden. Americans are paying less for necessities like gas and eggs, and today the administration signed another drug pricing deal to provide unprecedented health care savings to ordinary Americans.”

“As President Trump’s agenda of tax cuts continues, deregulation and energy abundance continue to have an impact Real wages continue to increaseAmericans can rest assured that the best is yet to come.”

The only GOP gubernatorial candidates running in 2025 are relying on major Trump campaign tactics.

Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger celebrates as she takes the stage during her Election Night rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on November 4, 2025. (Wayne McNamee/Getty Images)

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Obama previously campaigned in New Jersey during current Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaigns in 2017 and 2021, but he did not spend as much time in the state compared to battleground jurisdictions like Pennsylvania or Wisconsin during federal elections. Obama’s rally in Norfolk, Virginia, was the first time since 2012 that he campaigned in the city, adding to the buzz of a former president rallying support for the Democratic ticket.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.