Former President Barack Obama has taped campaign commercials for two dozen Democratic candidates for Senate and governor, his team told Politico on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, with the spots expected to begin airing in the coming days.
The advertising push arrives as Democrats head toward the Nov. 3 midterms with a significant polling advantage. Obama’s aides said his approach in the closing stretch “is driven by where he can move the needle with Democrats and persuadable voters, particularly in states with key races.”
President Donald Trump’s war with Iran and rising unaffordability have helped push his approval rating to 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, the lowest of his political career so far and two points below where it stood after the Jan. 6 riots near the end of his first term. Democrats hold a 9-point lead on the generic congressional ballot.
Obama, meanwhile, remains the party’s most valuable surrogate. A CNN poll in May found his favorability at 57 percent, making him the most popular living president, and 43 percent of registered voters told NBC News pollsters in September that an Obama endorsement would make them more likely to vote for a candidate.
A Battleground Blitz in the Closing Weeks
The 65-year-old former president has been selective about where he shows up this cycle. He campaigned in Texas with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico and gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa, and he appeared in a campaign ad with Iowa Senate nominee Josh Turek.
He has also lent his name to the party’s campaign machinery, headlining an event with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in September.
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, he headlines a Washington-area fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) — his first with the Senate campaign arm this cycle — in an event that will include a conversation with Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester.
The two dozen ads for Senate and gubernatorial candidates are to be released in the coming days and weeks, with additional campaign stops still to be announced.
Detroit Rally Set for Oct. 24
The Michigan Democratic Party announced Monday, Oct. 5, that Obama will headline a Detroit rally alongside Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson and other top candidates on Saturday, Oct. 24 — 10 days before Election Day and the first day of Michigan’s required early in-person voting period.
“It is my honor and privilege to announce that President @BarackObama is joining us on the trail in Detroit on Saturday, October 24,” El-Sayed wrote on social media.
The Primary Behind the Michigan Push
The appearance is a pointed show of support for El-Sayed, who defeated moderate Rep. Haley Stevens by less than a percentage point in an August primary that became a national test of the Democratic Party’s ideological direction. El-Sayed drew backing from leading progressives, including Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, while Stevens was supported by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Some ads backing Stevens in that primary featured Obama praising her. She also outperformed El-Sayed in Wayne County, taking about 51 percent of the Democratic primary vote to his 45 percent. The county includes Detroit, where more than three-quarters of residents are Black.
Obama spoke with El-Sayed by phone after his primary victory, and the nominee has spent the months since consolidating Democratic support for his race against Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. Former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned with El-Sayed in September. El-Sayed held a campaign stop at the Carpenters & Millwrights Labor Center in Warren, Mich., on Oct. 3.
What Michigan Decides on Nov. 3
Michigan’s Senate seat is open because Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring, and the contest is expected to be among a handful that determine which party controls the chamber next year. The state also has open races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general, with control of the state legislature in play as well.
Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, faces Republican Rep. John James in the race for governor. The two debated for the first time Tuesday, Oct. 6, and El-Sayed and Rogers are set to meet in their first debate Oct. 8.
For Democrats, the timing of Obama’s ramp-up is the point: a wave of commercials in the coming days, a fundraiser for Senate candidates Wednesday, Oct. 7, and a Detroit rally timed to the opening of early voting in a state that could decide the Senate majority.
