Barack Obama returns to campaign trail for Kamala Harris, Democrats: 5 takeaways

Sixteen years after making history, Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail Thursday for the 2024 presidential election with the hope of helping Vice President Kamala Harris do the same.

The former president headlined a Harris campaign rally in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, where he leaned into how the contest is about character and values as much as policy differences. The event kicks off a series of rallies in battleground states for the VP and other down ballot candidates through November.

"At the end of the day, this election isn't just about policies, it's about values," Obama said at the rally, held in the Democratic stronghold of Pittsburgh.

"It's about who we are and how we treat each other, and the example we want to set for our children, for their children. And it's about character."

Democrats are eager for Obama's return given his immense popularity, which Harris allies believe will be necessary to awaken any remaining slumber with the base in addition to persuading the dwindling — yet crucial — margin of undecided voters.

"You have the orator-in-chief of this generation, politically. It cannot be ignored, his magnitude," said Michael Blake, a former Democratic National Committee vice chair who has worked with Obama since his 2008 campaign.

"In 2004 the speech that he gave inspired a nation, and he's been still doing it 20 years later," Blake added. "He is the closer, and it's his time to close."

Obama's return comes at a time when Democrats and their allies are jittery as some polling shows cracks in the so-called blue wall states in Harris' race against Republican nominee Donald Trump. Other surveys show down-ballot races, particularly for Congress, either tightening or slipping away for Democrats, who already faced a difficult path to retain control of the Senate.

Here are important takeaways from Thursday's rally.

Can Obama stabilize Democrats' blue wall?

Obama's insertion into the 2024 campaign comes amid signs of cracks for Harris in Democrats' "blue wall" Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Winning those three states — which Obama did in both his elections — remains the most viable path for Harris to defeat former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. A blue-wall sweep would mean Harris would not need any of the Sun Belt battleground states – Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada – as long as she wins each of the other states that President Joe Biden carried in 2020.

"This election is going to be tight," Obama said. "Because there are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there, still striving to make life better for themselves, for their families, for their kids. And let's face it, as a country, we've been through a lot these last few years."

More: 'So goes Pennsylvania': Inside the Harris-Trump fight for top 2024 battleground

But, as detailed by the Wall Street Journal this week, Democrats have privately raised concerns that Harris is struggling to win a critical demographic in the Rust Belt battleground states: working-class voters who lack college degrees.

Polls this week from Quinnipiac University found Harris ahead over Trump 49%-46% in Pennsylvania, but Trump leading in Michigan 50%-47% and in Wisconsin 48%-46%. Harris still leads in all three states in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls – but by less than 1 percentage point in each, a closer margin than Harris' polling leads a few weeks ago following her Sept. 10 debate with Trump.

"The Harris post-debate starburst dims to a glow as Harris enters the last weeks slipping slightly in the Rust Belt," Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said.

For both Harris and Trump, losing Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes – the most of any swing state – would severely hamper their paths to the needed 270 electoral votes to win the election.

The presidential candidate who carried Pennsylvania has also won Michigan and Wisconsin in every election since 1988.

Senate slipping away from Dems

Moments before Obama took the stage, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told the audience "politics is a team sport," before mentioning Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., who introduced Obama and is engaged in one of many closely watched Senate races this year.

As much as Obama's return to the trail is about this year's presidential contest, which remains exceedingly close, it is also about him revving up excitement and focusing attention on down-ballot contests.

Obama used Thursday's rally to talk up candidates up and down the ballot, instructing people on how to "choose a new generation" to lead the country.

Ahead of the event, Obama was featured in Senate campaign ads in Michigan, Maryland and Florida. He also plans to be part of other candidate-specific ads and robocalls.

Democrats hold a 51-seat majority at the moment, and cannot afford to lose a single Senate race this fall because the GOP is already predicted to win the election to replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia.

None are more vulnerable than Democratic incumbent Jon Tester of Montana, who has been trailing Trump-endorsed Republican businessman Tim Sheehy in every survey since August. A New York Times and Siena College poll released this week shows Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL, leading Tester 52% to 44%.

Losing the Senate would immediately hobble a Harris presidency should she prevail. Obama told the crowd how senators such as Casey, are the ones who will help her get things done.

As much as Obama plans to do whatever he can to help Harris, he remains equally invested to help other Democratic contenders across the country, said Eric Schultz, an Obama senior advisor.

"His goals are to win the White House, keep the U.S. Senate, and take back the House of Representatives," Schultz said. "Now that voting has begun, our focus is on persuading and mobilizing voters, especially in states with key races. Many of these races are likely to go down to the wire and nothing should be taken for granted."

Obama: Trump again, really?

Much like the DNC speech in Chicago earlier this year , Obama continued to mock his White House successor as a self-absorbed candidate who cares little about average Americans and cannot be trusted with power.

After commenting on how much the country has been through over the past four years, including a global pandemic, Obama expressed bewilderment that Trump gets support from anyone.

"What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania. I don't understand that," he said. "Because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself."

Obama used much of his speech Thursday to tear into Trump, whether for selling Bibles and other products while campaigning; trying to overturn the 2020 election after he lost; or appointing Supreme Court justices who knocked down abortion rights.

At one point he compared the GOP nominee to former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who was known for rambling speeches. Obama called out his successor for making several misleading statements for the federal response to Hurricane Helene and other controversial comments, such as calling political opponents "vermin."

"The idea of intentionally trying to mislead people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments, and my question is when did that become OK?" Obama said.

The former president also brought up the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol amid chants to hang then-Vice President Mike Pence . Pence was inside the building at the time of the riot.

"If Donald Trump does not care that a mob might attack his own vice president, do you think he cares about you?" Obama said.

But he also joked that no one can imagine Trump changing a tire or a diaper when contrasting that with Harris' plans to help middle-class and working Americans tackle the cost of living in housing, child care and groceries.

"I remember changing diapers," Obama said. "You think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?"

A supporter in the crowd shouted: "His own!"

Obama responded: "I almost said that but I decided I shouldn't say it."

Obama challenges Black men to get behind Harris

Before the rally got underway, Obama made a brief stop at a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh, where in pointed remarks he called on Black male voters to get behind Harris.

Although Harris holds a sizable lead over Trump with Black voters across gender lines, polling has shown the GOP nominee has made small inroads, particularly with young Black male voters.

In a razor-close election, even a slight shift could make a major difference. The election increasingly is defined by the gender divide and debates about family.

"I'm going to go ahead and just say, speak some truths, if you don’t mind, because my understanding, based on reports I'm getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running," Obama said.

He added that it "seems to be more pronounced with the brothers," and that he wanted to speak directly to Black men.

Experts and advocates have called attention to Trump's comments questioning Harris' racial identity , calling it a way to raise doubt about the VP's heritage among a segment of Black voters. Among that segment are those frustrated with the influx of migrants into major U.S. cities, who the GOP contender said are taking "Black jobs."

Obama said Black voters have one candidate in Harris, "who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences."

“And on the other side, you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person,” he said. "And you are thinking about sitting out?"

Obama said Black men are "coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses," adding that, "I’ve got a problem with that."

“Because part of it makes me think — and I'm speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that."

'Truth or not': Obama frames election around ‘freedom’ and ‘values’

Obama framed the 2024 election as a race about two different ideas of "freedom" and competing "values."

"For Donald Trump and his cronies, freedom means that the powerful can do whatever they please," Obama said, accusing Trump of wanting to fire workers for trying to organize and "control what women can and can’t do with their bodies."

Obama said Harris and Democrats "have a broader idea of freedom" – the freedom for Americans to care for their families if they work hard, to breathe clean air, for children to safely attend schools and for women to make their own decisions about their bodies.

“I've always said there are good people of conscience on both sides of the abortion divide,” Obama said. “But if we believe in freedom, then we should at least agree that such a deeply personal decision should be made by the woman whose body is involved, and not by politicians.”

Biden then ripped into Trump's "outright lies," calling the setting aside of values “one of the most disturbing aspects of this election season, about Trump's rise in politics.” He said it used to be that Republicans and Democrats would argue about tax policy or foreign policy but “we didn't have arguments about whether you should tell the truth or not.”

“At the end of the day, this election isn't just about policies, it's about values,” Obama said. "It's about who we are and how we treat each other, and the example we want to set for our children, for their children. And it's about character."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Barack Obama returns to campaign trail for Kamala Harris, Democrats: 5 takeaways