Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh next week, her first foray into the battleground state as a state surrogate.
According to a senior Harris campaign official, the event will kick off a larger effort by Obama He intends to step up his campaign for Harris in the last part of the election cycle.
“President Obama believes the results of this election could not be more effective, and that is why he is doing everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris, Governor Waltz and Democrats across the country,” Obama senior adviser Eric Schulz said in a statement.
Harris and Obama have been in a relationship for two decades since the two first met when Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004.
Both Barack and Michelle Obama Harris confirmed After launching his campaign in July, the president vowed to do everything in his power to get Harris “through this election and into the Oval Office.”
At the Democratic National Convention, the Obamas encouraged Democrats to “do their part” to elect Harris.
“If we knock on doors, make phone calls and talk to our friends, if we listen to our neighbors, if we work as if we have never worked, if we stand firm in our convictions, we will elect Kamala. Harris as the next President of the United States and Tim Waltz as the next Vice President of the United States” he he said.
The said the former first lady“Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling you all — to do something.”
Michelle Obama is expected to campaign for Harris, likely focusing her efforts on encouraging voter registration and turnout for Harris, people familiar with the Obamas’ plans told NBC News.
While the Pittsburgh stop was Obama’s first campaign battleground for Harris, he delivered a headline. Fundraiser in Los Angeles for him last month and now plans to sign additional fundraising emails for his campaign leading up to the election. A second senior Harris campaign official said Obama’s signature “Grossroots” fundraising content and events he attended generated more than $76 million for the campaign this cycle.
Jillian Frankel contributed.