Barack and Michelle Obama will campaign with Kamala Harris next week as polls tighten

Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing out Democratic heavyweights as her campaign sees a skid in the polls.

The vice president will campaign alongside former President Obama and First Lady Michelle next week as the presidential race enters its final stretch.

First Harris will be joined by the former president for a rally in Georgia on Thursday, October 24. It will be their first campaign event together with Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Then on Saturday, October 26, the former first lady will appear with the vice president at a rally in Michigan.

This Saturday’s blockbuster rally will mark the former first lady’s first in-person campaign event with Harris, as well as her first time on the road in 2024.

October 26 marks the first day of early voting in Michigan. The vice president and former first lady will try to mobilize voters to cast their ballots early in this battleground state, where polls show a tight race.

Meanwhile, early voting in Georgia broke records when it started earlier this week. More than 600,000 people have already cast their votes there for the 2024 elections.

At their event, Obama and Harris will encourage Georgia voters to vote before Election Day on November 5.

Harris will also be in the state for the first time since early in-person voting began for a rally on Saturday in Atlanta.

The former president campaigned for Harris for the first time earlier this month with a solo event in Pittsburgh, but their voting event next week will mark their first campaign appearance together.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally in Green Bay on October 17. She will be joined by former President Obama for a campaign event in Georgia on October 24 and by former First Lady Michelle for a campaign event in Michigan on October 26.

Both successful joint events with the former president and first lady are seen as a huge opportunity to stoke voter enthusiasm ahead of Election Day, according to a senior campaign official granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive, unannounced campaign activity.

The Obamas remain perhaps the most beloved leaders in the Democratic party. Some voters had even hoped Michelle would run for president before she ruled it out earlier this year.

While next week will see the former first lady hit the campaign trail for the first time in 2024, her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August stole the show and even overshadowed her husband’s speech.

Her scathing attack on Donald Trump received thunderous applause from Democrats and reverberated across the internet.

Before she took the stage, it wasn’t clear that the former first lady would even perform in Chicago. The last time she was there was to remember her late mother.

The politically unfavorable former first lady even acknowledged during her speech that she wasn’t sure she was up to the task, but she said she felt compelled to show up and honor her mother’s memory.

In doing so, she made a powerful and heartfelt pitch to the vice president.

“My girl, Kamala Harris, is more than ready for this moment. She is one of the most qualified people to ever run for president,” she said in her remarks.

She also told supporters: ‘let’s work as if our lives depend on it.’

Former First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a scathing rebuke to former President Trump during her speech to the DNC

Since her impressive speech, Obama has publicly encouraged people to register to vote on her social media platforms via When We All Vote.

She will headline a separate get-out-the-vote rally with the organization in Atlanta on October 29.

Meanwhile, the former first lady has also heaped praise on the vice president online, including after the presidential debate in September, when she wrote in a post that Harris was the “the only candidate in this race who is ready to be president.”

Obama did not act for Biden during the pandemic in 2020, but she did deliver a video closing argument for him in October. In 2016, she campaigned both solo and personally with Hillary Clinton in the final stages of the campaign season.

Ahead of her first campaign appearance with Harris, the former first lady has been busy working with a number of organizations and projects and traveling the country to promote her latest book.

Former President Obama has been much more active so far in the 2024 election season.

Former President Obama at a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on October 10. He will also campaign in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin in the coming days

He has helped raise millions for the presidential race and downsize Democrats with appearances at events and in advertisements.

At his first solo campaign event of 2024 in Pittsburgh last week, Obama delivered a blistering attack on Trump, criticizing him for “rants and enthusiasm for crazy conspiracy theories.”

He also wondered, “If Donald Trump doesn’t care that a mob would attack his own vice president, do you think he cares about you?”

The former president has several additional solo campaign stops in the coming days, including in Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Saturday.

He heads to Michigan and Wisconsin next week to campaign on Tuesday before joining the vice president in person for the first time in Georgia.