Former President Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail in Virginia and New Jersey on Saturday, speaking at rallies for the Democratic candidates in the states’ gubernatorial races ahead of Tuesday’s elections.
Obama is set to stump for former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat facing Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia’s governor race, in Norfolk early Saturday afternoon. In the evening, he will be in Newark with Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is taking on GOP former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey’s gubernatorial contest.
Nine years after leaving office, Obama remains the Democratic Party’s most powerful surrogate — a reality underscored by his high-profile appearances on the final weekend of two of 2025’s most important contests. Obama has also stepped up his warnings about what he says is the damage being wrought to the country by President Donald Trump.
He’s the closer after a number of ambitious Democrats have also hit the trail for the two candidates. The list of Democratic governors to campaign with Spanberger and Sherrill includes Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Maryland’s Wes Moore, Illinois’ JB Pritzker, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a Thursday appearance with Sherrill, touted their efforts to secure funding for the Gateway Tunnel, a rail project between New Jersey and New York City, and lambasted Trump’s decision to terminate that project.
“The problem is that Jack Ciattarelli knows that standing up for New Jersey would require standing up to Donald Trump, and he just doesn’t have the backbone to do that,” Buttigieg said.
Obama has slowly ramped up his involvement in both gubernatorial elections. He cut ads for both candidates that began airing in mid-October.
After voting in Bridgewater on Friday, Ciattarelli — whose near miss in the 2021 New Jersey governor’s race was an early indicator of the state’s rightward shift in the 2024 presidential race, when Trump closed his losing margin from 16 percentage points in 2020 to 6 points last year — downplayed any impact Obama’s appearance with Sherrill might have in the closing days of the campaign.
“This is what I refer to as the choreography of campaigns, but at the end of day, I really believe this, particularly in New Jersey, a candidate has to win the race, and that’s why I get up and down the state every day and engage with people every day, shake hands every single day.” Ciattarelli said. “I think we’ve done that a hell of a lot better than my opponent.”
The Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races, which are held a year after presidential elections, are widely viewed as an important gauge of the nation’s political mood almost a year into a new presidency. One year into Obama’s White House tenure, Republican Bob McDonnell’s win in Virginia and Chris Christie’s win in New Jersey offered previews of the red wave that was to come in the 2010 midterms.
Spanberger and Sherrill are favored in the blue-leaning states, but wins are no lock: Four years ago, Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor race; in New Jersey, Sherrill hasn’t been able to pull away after several public polls found her with a single-digit edge over Ciattarelli.
Both of Obama’s Saturday stops — Newark and Norfolk — are in areas with significant Black populations. Over the last several election cycles he has appeared often with Virginia Democratic candidates at base-rallying events in the Hampton Roads region.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.
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