CLEVELAND — Former President Barack Obama took to the campaign trail on Saturday, October 24, stumping for Democratic candidates at rallies in Cleveland and Detroit and accusing President Donald Trump of corruption, Reuters reported. The rallies came ten days before the November 3 midterm elections that will determine control of the closely divided Congress.
Source: Reuters via WNCY, Oct. 24, 2026
Campaigning in Michigan for U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Obama framed the November 3 vote as a “circuit breaker” to “at least rein in some of the foolishness” of Trump's presidency, Reuters reported. “We got to flip that circuit breaker, bring some accountability to this government,” Obama said, according to Reuters.
Source: Reuters via WNCY, Oct. 24, 2026
“We have never seen a president excel in straight-up grifting, on your dime, like this,” Obama said, according to Reuters. “Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this … Now the party seems to stand for corrupt government, or inept government, or no government.” Reuters reported that Obama also derided Trump's strategy for Iran and skewered the gilded aesthetic he has applied to White House renovations, and that the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The corruption and grifting remarks are Obama's campaign claims, not findings of any court or investigation.
Source: Reuters via WNCY, Oct. 24, 2026
In Cleveland, Obama appeared with former Senator Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to oust Republican Senator Jon Husted, and with Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, the Associated Press reported in advance of the rallies. In Detroit, he campaigned with El-Sayed, who faces former Republican Representative Mike Rogers, and the event was also to feature Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, according to AP.
Source: Associated Press (advance plans, via Netscape News), Oct. 2026
Stateline Daily, reporting on the completed rallies on October 25, said Obama pitched the midterms as a circuit breaker nine days before November 3 and that voters should watch early voting numbers in Ohio and Michigan and whether Obama adds stops in other battlegrounds in the final week. Reuters noted Obama, president from 2009 until Trump began his first term in 2017, remains one of the most popular figures among Democrats, and the party hopes his involvement can fire up supporters in tight Senate races.
Source: Stateline Daily, Oct. 25, 2026; Reuters via WNCY, Oct. 24, 2026