Obamas to bring star power to campaign appearances alongside Kamala Harris

Barack and Michelle Obama will make their first appearances alongside Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the campaign trail next week, aiming to provide a powerful boost in the closing weeks of the election.

Harris is scheduled to appear with the former president in Georgia on 24 October and with Michelle Obama in Michigan on 26 October, according to a Harris campaign senior official. The specific cities and times in the key swing states have not yet been announced.

It will be the former first lady’s first appearance campaigning for Harris. She is also scheduled to headline a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on 29 October hosted by When We All Vote, a non-partisan civic engagement group founded by Obama in 2018.

Barack Obama recently campaigned for Harris for the first time, appearing alone in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now the two will rally together. And he is scheduled to make additional appearances in Arizona and Nevada on Friday and Saturday, followed by events in Madison, Wisconsin, and Detroit, Michigan, on 22 October, all in the group of crucial swing states that could decide who take the White House in this election.

Early voting begins in Michigan on 26 October. In Georgia, early voting began earlier this week, with record early turnout.

The Obamas and Harris have a friendship spanning 20 years. They first met when Harris helped host a fundraiser in San Francisco for Barack Obama’s 2004 senate run in Illinois, reported the New York Times.

Harris was an early supporter of Obama’s presidential campaign in the closely contested 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, and one of the few elected officials in California to back him over Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination. Obama became America’s first Black president and, Clinton having failed to beat Donald Trump in 2016, if Harris wins in November she will become America’s first female president.

Since Biden stepped down in August 2024 from the presidential race and endorsed Harris, Barack Obama has reportedly been an important adviser to her campaign.

The Associated Press contributed reporting