Obama criticizes Trump before election day in Virginia and New Jersey

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is encouraging voters to elect Democratic governors in Virginia and New Jersey in Tuesday’s elections to rebuke Donald Trump, 10 months into his second presidency and a year before midterm elections that could reshape him.

At the same time, California advocates made a final push ahead of a statewide referendum on whether to redraw the state’s congressional map in favor of Democrats. The effort, backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is part of a national redistricting battle that began when Trump urged GOP-governed states to help him maintain a friendly majority in the House in 2026.

Obama praised Spanberger and Sherrill, center-left Democrats who helped their party win the House majority midway through Trump’s first presidency, as experienced figures who would improve voters’ financial circumstances. However, Obama, who remains the Democrats’ most popular figure almost nine years after leaving the White House, spent much of his time at various rallies criticizing Trump for “anarchy and recklessness” and his “chaotic” economic policy. Obama urged voters to “set a glorious example for the nation” by rejecting candidates loyal to a president with “autocratic impulses.”

“What’s at stake now is clear,” Obama said in Virginia. “We don’t need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy. We don’t need to wonder to what extent our culture may become coarser and meaner. Elections matter, and they matter to you.”

via News

Obama was careful not to blame voters who backed Trump in 2024 on inflation and a choppy economy. But he asked in New Jersey: “Has any of that gotten better for you?”

In some ways, it was standard partisan fare in the final stretch of a campaign. However, it stood out as an unusually intense rebuke of a sitting president by a predecessor and because Republicans offered little defense of Trump at their own campaign stops on Saturday, instead trying to localize the off-year election as much as possible.

On a bus tour of New Jersey, Ciattarelli referenced the president primarily to chide Sherrill for mentioning him so much, along with his experience as a Navy helicopter pilot.

“His disdain for the president. And he can fly a helicopter. Is any of that going to fix New Jersey?” Ciattarelli said in suburban Westfield.

Earle-Sears didn’t mention Trump at all while campaigning with term-limited Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “We are not going back,” he said, defending conservative continuity in Purcellville. “There’s only darkness back there. Abigail Spanberger represents the darkness.”

Samuel Corum via Getty Images

Trump is not there, but he has been in the conversation.

Trump endorsed Ciattarelli and said, without naming Earle-Sears, that he supports her candidacy in Virginia. He held a telephone rally for Ciattarelli, but has not campaigned in person for either candidate.

On Friday night in South Florida, Trump attended a shindig at his resort themed “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody.” On Saturday he headed to Trump International Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida, and is scheduled to attend a dinner for MAGA, Inc., a super PAC founded by allies. The president is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday.

Trump’s aloofness reflects a complicated reality for Republicans: He remains very popular among the most conservative voters, but he has a more precarious position with the rest of the electorate.

Some of their supporters greeted Ciattarelli and Earle-Sears with red “Make America Great Again” hats from the Trump campaigns. But the nominees remained focused on state policies.

In suburban Westfield, Ciattarelli took selfies for about an hour and talked about proposals to reduce energy costs and property taxes, among other ideas. His campaign has also focused on his family’s deep roots in the state and argued that it’s time for a “Jersey guy” to be governor. Sherrill was born in Virginia.

At multiple stops in small towns, Earle-Sears promised to cut taxes, defend parents’ ability to shape educational policy, and avoid unions and business regulations. “I’m all for common sense,” he said in northern Virginia.

He previously hugged Trump, while Ciattarelli highlighted his good relationship with the White House.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Two Democrats take slightly different approaches to Trump

As he has done all fall, Sherrill did not shy away from Trump and national interests.

“When everything seems to come down to our elections, when people across the country look at me with fear and desperation in their eyes and ask, ‘Is New Jersey ready for this moment?’ My answer was, ‘Hell, yes,'” he said in Newark.

Spanberger maintained his more circumspect style toward Trump, combining economic arguments against his policies with more opaque references to the president’s actions that disrupt democratic norms.

“Virginia voters can and will send a message amid the recklessness and cruelty emanating from Washington,” he said before Obama. He criticized “the political turmoil going on in Washington right now” and featured Obama remembering “a time not long ago… when we had a president… who worked to unite us instead of tearing us apart.”

Still, according to AdImpact data, Spanberger’s biggest advertising expenditures are for ads that attempt to link Earle-Sears to Trump.

Economy and shutdown overshadow gubernatorial election

Spanberger and Sherrill are committed to addressing rising consumer costs. In New Jersey, however, Ciattarelli has blamed Democrats for higher energy costs because outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy has led the state for two terms.

Democrats have criticized federal domestic policy and Republicans’ tax cut bill. Spanberger on Saturday criticized Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and the current federal shutdown, both of which have a disproportionate impact on a state with more than 300,000 federal employees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Earle-Sears has blamed the shutdown on Spanberger, arguing that the former congresswoman should use her influence with Virginia’s Democratic U.S. senators. Both voted against the GOP spending extension bill as Democrats demand that Republicans address looming health care cuts.

Additionally, the races could offer some clues about whether social issues carry less weight with voters than in previous elections. Spanberger and Sherrill announce their support for abortion rights, and Spanberger did so in the last Southern state not to impose new restrictions or bans in recent years. Earle-Sears did not mention her opposition to abortion rights on Saturday, but has repeatedly said Spanberger is a transgender rights extremist, attacks similar to those Trump effectively leveled against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.

___

Barrow reported from Atlanta. Catalini reported from Newark. News writer Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.