CNN —
Former President Barack Obama will begin a 27-day campaign campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania next week, the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign adviser said, underscoring his star power among Democrats. She said she hopes it will help propel her to the office she once held.
Mr. Obama, openly concerned about Democratic complacency and acutely aware of his narrow lead in the polls and who, along with his wife Michelle, is one of the most popular figures in the party, has backed Ms. Harris in any way he can. Aides said they are trying to do so. .
“President Obama believes that the stakes of this election could not be more consequential, which is why he is committed to supporting Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, and Democrats across the country,” said Eric Schultz, senior adviser to President Obama. “We are doing everything we can to support the selection of the candidates.”
Thursday’s rally in Pittsburgh will be the first in a series of events President Obama plans to hold across the battleground state in the weeks before Election Day, Harris campaign officials said.
Away from rallies, former President Obama’s aides say the former president intends to support Democrats by recording candidate-specific ads and lending his name to campaign fundraising emails, including in down-ballot races. That’s what he said. He headlined a $4 million fundraiser for Harris in Los Angeles last month.
President Obama’s office also announced that it had cut three ads for Senate candidates in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.
In President Obama’s view, the 2024 election is an “all hands on deck” moment, aides said.
“I wish I could offer you a four- or five-point plan for how we win this election. The truth is, the plan is to push through that,” excerpts from his office said. he said during a fundraiser event in California, according to .
The event marks the first time Obama has participated in a solo fundraiser since Harris secured the Democratic nomination in the summer, bringing the total amount Obama has raised through events and Democratic fundraising content to $76 million. The agency announced at the time that this had become the case.
There is little doubt that President Obama would have offered his campaign talents to President Joe Biden had he remained in the race. Still, Mr. Obama was one of the party elders whose quiet maneuvering over the summer helped former Vice President Biden realize that Democrats would almost certainly lose if the election continued.
And in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, President Obama cast Harris as the successor to the political movement he started in 2008, saying that Harris “can chart a new course to meet today’s challenges.” ” he said.
He also warned that the road to the White House would be difficult and would require a concerted effort from Harris’ supporters.
“It’s up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in. And make no mistake, it’s going to be a fight,” he said.
Mr. Obama and Ms. Harris have known each other for 20 years. The energy promoting her candidacy and the loud crowd chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s historic 2008 campaign.
Aides to the former president say their first memory of meeting Harris was at a California fundraiser for his 2004 Senate campaign.
Four years later, when Mr. Obama had a long-term goal of winning the White House, Ms. Harris, over much opposition within her own party, endorsed Mr. Obama over the then-senator. Hillary Clinton received early support from much of the Democratic establishment and many black leaders.
Harris flew to Springfield, Illinois, to watch the announcement of her candidacy. Photos from that day in February 2007 show a wind-blown Mr. Harris, then San Francisco District Attorney, not on stage or in the VIP room, but in the crowd, waiting for President Obama to walk by and shake his hand. ) is shown in the photo.
For the 2008 Iowa caucuses, she packed a black down jacket and boots and headed to Des Moines just after Christmas to join Obama’s volunteer army.
“No job was too small for any of us,” Harris later recalled. “We spent hours knocking on doors in subzero temperatures.”
Rather than knocking on doors, President Obama returned the favor in 2010 by endorsing Harris’ candidacy for California attorney general. At a rally in Los Angeles to support her campaign, she called Harris “a dear friend of mine, and I hope everyone will follow her.”
Fourteen years later, President Obama is once again hoping the country will follow its friends and do the right thing and prevent President Donald Trump from returning to the White House.
President Obama told donors last month that Harris’ victory “doesn’t solve all the crazy problems in the world.”
“But every time we win, we solidify this new future. It brings these new possibilities. Eventually it will become the new normal, the new reality.” he said.
This article has been updated with additional reporting.
