Former President Barack Obama made a high-profile return to the campaign trail this weekend, showing up in Virginia and New Jersey to give Democrats a last-minute boost ahead of Tuesday’s elections. His message was clear: the stakes are bigger than just who wins these two governor’s races.
In Norfolk, Virginia, Obama joined Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA officer, for a rally that felt as much about national direction as it was about local politics. He praised Spanberger’s commitment to improving life for Virginians but spent most of his speech targeting Donald Trump and what he called the former president’s dangerous influence.
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“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.”
Spanberger, echoing that urgency, warned of “the political turmoil coming out of Washington right now” and introduced Obama by recalling “a time not that long ago… when we had a president… who worked to bring us together instead of tearing us apart.”
Later that evening, Obama traveled to Newark to support Mikie Sherrill, another center-left Democrat who helped her party retake the House in 2018. Unlike Spanberger, who’s aimed her campaign more at Trump’s economic failures, Sherrill has been direct in attacking the former president, repeatedly highlighting her background as a Navy helicopter pilot while taking on his legacy.
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Meanwhile, the Republicans they’re facing — Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia and Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey — spent the weekend on the ground in their respective states. Both have Trump’s endorsement, though the former president spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and did not campaign in person. He held a phone rally for Ciattarelli and attended events at his Palm Beach resort.
Earle-Sears focused on energizing GOP voters in rural Virginia, while Ciattarelli’s bus tour emphasized tax cuts and energy prices. “Her disdain for the president. And she can fly a helicopter. Is any of that going to fix New Jersey?” Ciattarelli said of Sherrill at a stop in Westfield.
The campaigns are doubling as early tests of where voters stand on social issues, inflation, and the long shadow of Trump. Spanberger and Sherrill have emphasized abortion rights and slammed Republican tax and spending policies, while Earle-Sears has leaned on cultural arguments, calling Spanberger extreme over transgender policies.
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Though the races are state-level, their outcomes could hint at voter sentiment ahead of the 2026 midterms. As Obama put it, it’s not just about party politics — it’s about the direction of the country.