Obama Mobilizes Progressive Base, Amplifies Fundraising as Democrats Battle Corporate-Backed GOP in Tight Senate Races
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Former President Barack Obama has ramped up his midterm activism, raising $3.6 million at a DSCC event and traveling to battleground states to support Democratic candidates fighting against entrenched right-wing interests in fiercely contested Senate races.
Former President Barack Obama intensified his efforts to defend democracy this week, raising $3.6 million at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser in Virginia. This brings his office’s total contributions to party committees this cycle to $13.6 million, a crucial boost as Democrats face a Senate map expanded by Republican dark money into states like Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska. Obama warned donors that the stakes are dire, describing the outlook as 'on the razor's edge' and emphasizing that none of the races are guaranteed in the face of relentless conservative obstruction.
'I don’t want anybody to think this is a sure thing. It’s not,' Obama stated alongside Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a DSCC vice chair. 'We could end up, all these races that are showing we’ve got a two- or three-point lead or it’s a toss-up, we could end up losing all of them by two points.'
Obama’s activism goes beyond fundraising for the party. In the past two days, he appeared in endorsement videos for progressive gubernatorial candidates Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania), Keisha Lance Bottoms (Georgia), Deb Haaland (New Mexico), and David Crowley (Wisconsin), as well as Senate champions Jon Ossoff (Georgia) and Troy Jackson (Maine). The Democratic National Committee responded with a six-figure digital ad campaign featuring Obama urging voters to fight back against reactionary forces.
The former president also campaigned in Texas with Senate candidate James Talarico and gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa, both of whom are challenging the state’s regressive policies, and appeared in an Iowa ad with Senate candidate Josh Turek. He is set to travel to Michigan to support Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, both advocates for bold, people-centered reforms.
At the Virginia event, Obama defended the Democratic Party’s broad progressive coalition, highlighting candidates like El-Sayed who push for a living wage and universal health care—policies reminiscent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. He praised Turek for standing up for farmers harmed by corporate-driven tariffs and the fallout from militaristic foreign policy, reminding attendees that real politics starts when ordinary people are seen and heard.
A recent NBC News poll showed 43% of respondents would be more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Obama, compared with just 30% for a Trump endorsement, underscoring the former president’s enduring influence among those fighting for social and economic justice.