Obama campaigns for Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia governor races

In the recent run-up to Election Day 2025, former Pres Barack Obama everywhere.

From coast to coast, the former president is hoping to help push his fellow Democrats to the finish line in the most high-profile showdowns at the ballot box this year as his party aims to rebound from last year’s electoral setbacks.

Saturday, with only three days to go Election dayObama will headline rallies in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two states that will hold gubernatorial elections this year.

Last week, he spoke of another decisive showdown at the ballot box.

Head here for the latest FOX NEWS reports on the 2025 elections

Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention on August 20, 2024 in Chicago. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

The former president, who served two terms after becoming governor of California, said: “Many of us do not believe that politicians should choose their voters. Rather, they believe that voters should choose who will represent them. This is the meaning of democracy.” Gavin Newsom In a regulatory call for California’s Proposition 50.

California voters They are deciding whether to approve the proposal, which would hand congressional redistricting powers in the left-leaning state to the Democratic-dominated Legislature over the coming years.

The move could potentially create up to five more with blue leanings Seats in the US House of Representatives In the nation’s most populous state, and facing new maps drawn in GOP-dominated Texas, Missouri and North Carolina that are likely to create as many as seven Republican-leaning districts.

Five key races to watch on Election Day 2025

It’s part of a broader effort by the GOP to consolidate its slim House majority to maintain control of the chamber in midterm elections, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats need to win only three seats to regain control of the House of Representatives.

president Donald Trump Trump and his political team aim to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.

Obama said the Trump-led efforts by Republicans across the country are “shameless.”

“The problem we see now is that our current president and his administration are explicitly saying that we want to change the rules of the game halfway in order to insulate ourselves from the rule of the people,” the former president said upon joining Newsom.

Obama appears in “Yes on 50” TV ads.He said passing the proposal in California would give Democrats “a chance, at least, to level the playing field in the upcoming midterm elections.”

The battle for governor in this closely watched race may be coming to a photo finish

The former president also appears in ads in New Jersey For Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mickey Sherrill, who is in a close race with GOP challenger Jack Ciattarelli in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat.

He stars in the spots of former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate In Virginiawho faces Republican challenger Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears in the showdown to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, seen at an early voting rally on September 19, 2025, in Henrico, Virginia, is the Democratic Party’s nominee in this year’s election for governor. (Chip Somodevila/Getty Images)

For Democrats, aiming to escape the political wilderness after losing majority control in the White House and Senate and failing to reclaim the House last year, showdowns at the ballot box in 2025 are their first big chance at redemption, and they hope Obama’s two-state swing will energize their base.

But for the former president, whose most significant domestic achievement — the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare — is front and center in the current federal government shutdown and a major issue on the 2025 campaign trail, his return to the campaign trail is also about protecting his legacy.

“President Obama reminds us what we can accomplish when we as leaders are not afraid to take on big challenges to achieve them,” Sherrill said in a statement. “He led historic efforts to secure millions of Americans and lower health care costs.”

Rep. Mickey Sherrill, Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, greets voters at a senior center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 29, 2025 (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Obama is often referred to as the Democrats’ campaign closer, pointing to his recurring role since leaving office nine years ago as the party’s most effective campaign spokesman.

According to A Gallup poll In the last presidential election held in January, Obama received a support rate of 59% among Americans, a higher percentage than any previous living president. Among Democrats, his support rate reached an astronomical 96%.

“He’s the best communicator of our generation,” veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital. “The way back is largely to meet people where they are, and President Obama has shown in his two election victories that he can do that.”

But Erin Maguire, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator who worked in senior communications positions for then-House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign and later led communications for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, disagrees.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

She stressed, “This shows the extent of the leadership vacuum that exists in the Democratic Party, which Obama must be closer to here.”

Referring to Trump’s 2016 White House win, Maguire said, “There was a complete rejection of the Obama era when Donald Trump was elected to office. … For Democrats, this just shows what a huge mess their entire party is, as Obama has to be the strongest voice in any of these races.”