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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/24\/us\/politics\/obama-trump-midterms-campaign.html?emc=edit_na_20261024&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=228640",
    "parsed_content": "Tracking the Early VoteThe Race for CongressWhen to Vote in Your StateControl of the HouseLatest PollsAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTObama Issues Searing Attacks on Trump, Ramaswamy in Return to Campaign TrailThe 44th president sharply criticized Mr. Trump, who hit back later in the day. Mr. Obama also assailed Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio.Listen \u00b7 9:50 min Share full articleFormer President Barack Obama sharply criticized President Trump on Saturday in Ohio.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York TimesBy Tim BalkEmily DaviesJohn Yoon and Richard FaussetTim Balk reported from New York. Emily Davies reported from Cleveland. John Yoon reported from Detroit. Richard Fausset reported from Perry, Ga.Oct. 24, 2026Updated 9:56 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google Former President Barack Obama on Saturday attacked President Trump\u2019s administration in searing and mocking terms, saying it was defined by \u201cincompetence the likes of which we have not seen in modern times.\u201dAppearing in Cleveland at his first campaign rally of the midterm elections, Mr. Obama delivered his most forceful attack on Mr. Trump in recent memory. He also criticized an explosive campaign ad from the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, saying it exemplified a coarsening of American politics.Hours later, Mr. Obama was in Detroit, denouncing what he said was the \u201cfoolishness\u201d of the Trump administration. As Mr. Obama was speaking in Michigan, Mr. Trump took the stage at his own rally in Perry, Ga., creating a rare split-screen between the two presidents. Mr. Trump said his accomplishments eclipsed those of his predecessors, and falsely claimed that Mr. Obama had spoken to an \u201cempty\u201d venue in Michigan.Mr. Obama, who has been selective about publicly criticizing Mr. Trump, condemned his Republican successor\u2019s stewardship of the country in language that was personal and pointed. He said in Ohio that Mr. Trump\u2019s second term had amounted to \u201ctwo years of chaos and cruelty and corruption,\u201d argued that top administration officials were not \u201cnot serious people\u201d and said Mr. Trump had led the country into an economically painful war in Iran \u201cthat nobody asked for.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Obama, describing Mr. Trump as \u201cyou know who\u201d or \u201cthis guy in the White House,\u201d said America had never had a president \u201cexcel so wildly at just straight-up grifting.\u201d And he cast Mr. Trump as disconnected from Americans\u2019 needs, engrossed instead by White House renovation projects.VideoCreditCredit...Pool, via Reuters\u201cHe should be on HGTV,\u201d Mr. Obama said, ridiculing Mr. Trump\u2019s focus on applying gold trimmings to the White House. \u201cHe\u2019s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere.\u201dMr. Trump, who voted early in Florida on Saturday hours before his rally, told reporters that Mr. Obama had been a \u201clousy president\u201d and cast the former president\u2019s remarks as a signal of Republicans\u2019 strength.\u201cWe\u2019ve beaten them,\u201d Mr. Trump said, referring to his victories in 2016 and 2024. \u201cWhen I started, we had a very much weaker Republican Party \u2014 a smaller, weaker Republican Party. And then I ran, and I won.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Trump and Mr. Obama have long had a complicated and tense relationship. Mr. Trump, who succeeded Mr. Obama in office in 2017, for years promoted a racist lie that Mr. Obama had not been born in the United States. Mr. Trump regularly refers to Mr. Obama by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, and continued to do so at his rally on Saturday night.The presidents had recently exchanged public criticisms \u2014 though Mr. Trump\u2019s had typically been more frequent, forceful and direct. In June, Mr. Obama said he thought Mr. Trump had an \u201cobsession\u201d with him.But they also appeared to share a friendly conversation at former President Jimmy Carter\u2019s funeral in 2025. After the ceremony, Mr. Trump told reporters that they \u201cprobably\u201d like each other and just have \u201cdifferent philosophies.\u201dIn Michigan, Mr. Obama appeared to nod to Mr. Trump\u2019s questioning of his place of birth as he spoke about Republicans\u2019 efforts to cast doubt on the patriotism of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in the state, who would be the first Muslim senator if elected.\u201cWe have seen this movie before: I starred in it,\u201d said Mr. Obama, who won Michigan in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. \u201cI\u2019ve got a long-form birth certificate to prove it. This stuff didn\u2019t work on me. Not in Michigan. It\u2019s not going to work on Abdul. Abdul\u2019s as Michigan as it gets.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTIn Ohio, Mr. Obama was joining Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, and former Senator Sherrod Brown, the Democratic nominee for Senate in the state.ImageMr. Obama appeared in Ohio with Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor, and Sherrod Brown, the party\u2019s nominee for Senate.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York TimesImageLater in the day, Mr. Obama campaigned in Detroit in support of the Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, and the party\u2019s nominee for governor, Jocelyn Benson.Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York TimesDr. Acton\u2019s race has consumed national politics in recent days, after her Republican opponent, Mr. Ramaswamy, aired an ad featuring Dr. Acton\u2019s mother. Dr. Acton says she has not spoken to her mother since she was 12, after her stepfather was charged with raping her. The ad has split Republicans.Mr. Obama assailed Mr. Ramaswamy over the ad, saying there appeared to be \u201cno line\u201d Mr. Ramaswamy would not cross.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cThere\u2019s a decency that we should expect out of our public officials,\u201d the former president said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know what\u2019s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody can run an ad like that.\u201dDr. Acton also addressed the commercial, saying that Mr. Ramaswamy was targeting her family history to \u201csave his struggling campaign.\u201d\u201cIt\u2019s not going to work,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause compassion and decency still matter.\u201dA spokeswoman for Mr. Ramaswamy\u2019s campaign, Connie Luck, argued in a statement that Mr. Obama had left America \u201cmore divided than ever\u201d and suggested that Dr. Acton, a former director of the Ohio Health Department, was not qualified to be governor. Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump are presenting starkly different pitches in the final days before the midterms, with their parties locked in bitter battles for control of Congress and statehouses.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Trump has been pressing a message that Democrats are dangerous extremists. He has urged voters to \u201cpretend\u201d he is on the ballot, hoping to activate his party\u2019s base. But polls show his approval rating has plummeted, and Republicans are on the defensive over high prices.ImagePresident Donald Trump during a midterm election campaign rally in Perry, Ga., on Saturday.Credit...Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times\u201cI am on the ballot, essentially,\u201d Mr. Trump said in Georgia on Saturday night.Mr. Trump has argued that a vote for Republicans would be a vote for lower taxes, less crime and a better economy.\u201cWe\u2019re in the golden age of America,\u201d Mr. Trump said, declaring that he had achieved historically low crime rates and built a roaring economy. \u201cCompanies are pouring in.\u201dMr. Obama argued that Democrats would help bring accountability to what he said was an off-the-rails and out-of-touch administration.The appearances by Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama on Saturday were also striking in their contrasting styles: While Mr. Trump\u2019s speech was lengthy and meandering, Mr. Obama\u2019s two speeches were far more scripted.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMr. Trump spoke longer in his one speech than Mr. Obama did across two.ImageCredit...Nick Hagen for The New York TimesMr. Obama has engaged heavily with midterm races, taping dozens of ads for candidates. But until Saturday, his time on the trail had been limited to light campaigning in the spring with James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas.Mr. Obama made late endorsements over the weekend in Florida, backing David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, and Angie Nixon, the left-wing Democratic Senate nominee, who would be Florida\u2019s first Black senator.Mr. Obama was the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry Ohio, which was once seen as a quintessential swing state but has been drifting toward Republicans for years. Democrats have grown increasingly optimistic about their chances in the midterm elections in Ohio, though, as the state\u2019s agriculture-heavy economy has buckled under the weight of the war in Iran and the president\u2019s tariff policies.In bluer Michigan, the Democratic Senate nominee, Dr. El-Sayed, has been trying to shore up his support from Black and Jewish voters. Republicans see his race against Mike Rogers, a Republican former congressman, as their best chance to flip a Senate seat.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTDemocrats emerged divided from a bitter Senate primary race between the progressive Dr. El-Sayed and Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate. Some Jewish Democrats in Michigan say they are concerned by Dr. El-Sayed\u2019s fierce criticism of Israel and are torn about whether to support him. Tensions between Michigan\u2019s Black and Arab American communities have also challenged Dr. El-Sayed.At his evening rally, Mr. Obama, a more moderate Democrat, acknowledged differences that Dr. El-Sayed had expressed with his presidency in the past.\u201cYou know who else doesn\u2019t agree with everything I do?\u201d he asked the crowd at a high school gymnasium. \u201cMichelle Obama.\u201dMr. Obama also suggested there would be power in sending Dr. El-Sayed, a Muslim, to Washington to join Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a Jewish Democrat who has endorsed Dr. El-Sayed.\u201cImagine the power duo of Abdul and Elissa,\u201d Mr. Obama said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a Muslim man, you got a Jewish woman fighting for you in the United States Senate. That\u2019s something, Michigan, you can be proud of.\u201dMr. Trump is set to visit Michigan on Sunday.Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT"
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