Ex-president Obama to blitz campaign trail for Harris

WASHINGTON - Former US president Barack Obama will stump for Ms Kamala Harris in key swing states, adding his star power to the Democrat’s White House bid in the final month before election day, her campaign said on Oct 4.

Mr Obama, America’s first black president, will make his first appearance on Oct 10 in the industrial city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical state in Ms Harris’s battle with Republican Donald Trump.

The 63-year-old remains an influential voice among Democrats, and he and former first lady Michelle Obama delivered rapturously received speeches backing Ms Harris at the party’s national convention in August.

“President Obama believes the stakes of this election could not be more consequential and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice-President Harris, Governor (and vice-presidential nominee Tim) Walz and Democrats across the country,” Mr Obama’s senior advisor Eric Schultz said in a statement.

Mr Obama will campaign in battlegrounds up until election day, Ms Harris’s campaign said.

He could have a crucial role in getting out the vote in a desperately tight election against Trump, particularly as Ms Harris seeks to mobilise younger people and black voters.

The ex-president endorsed Ms Harris, 59, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the White House race in July.

He portrayed Ms Harris – America’s first female, black and South Asian vice president – as the political heir to his own trailblazing path in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Mr Obama led the crowd in chants of “Yes she can” – a riff on the “Yes he can” chants from his own 2008 campaign – but warned that 2024 would “still be a tight race in a closely divided country”.

While he has pulled in more than US$76 million (S$99 million) for the Democratic ticket in this year’s presidential race, it will be the first time Mr Obama has hit the campaign trail. AFP