Midterms 2026: Obama attacks Trump's record in Ohio and calls for a vote

Barack Obama returned to the election field on Saturday, October 24 in Cleveland, Ohio, before a stage in Detroit, Michigan. In the run-up to the mid-term elections on 3 November, the former President sought to turn Donald Trump's discontent into democratic votes. RTBF, Watson and the BBC describe the same day of mobilization, focusing on cost of living, presidential responsibility and electoral participation. [S4] [S7] [S10]

The cost of living at the heart of the attack

In Cleveland, Obama denounced the "chaos", "humanity", "corruption" and "incompetence" of the administration. He accuses Trump of having aggravated the financial difficulties of households through his decisions, notably by launching a war against Iran which he calls "unnecessary". These terms express his political judgment: they alone do not constitute a demonstration of the presidential record. [S4] [S10]

His argument also targets voters who chose Trump in 2024. According to BBC and NBC News, Obama acknowledges their frustration with inflation after the pandemic, but now asks them to confront Republican promises with results. NBC News notes that tariffs and the war in Iran have helped to raise prices, without encrypting in this report their respective contribution to total household spending. [S10] [S11]

Trump defends an opposite reading. At a separate gathering in Georgia, reported by the BBC, he praised customs revenues and acknowledged "temporarily high oil prices", while promising a drop at the pump. This intervention sheds light on the national debate, but is not a response to Obama's meeting. [S10]

On Sunday, the President responded directly to Truth Social, accusing Obama of opening Iran's way to nuclear weapons. RTBF and Watson recall that the 2015 agreement provided for a reduction in sanctions in exchange for a reduction in Iranian nuclear activities, prior to the US withdrawal decided by Trump during his first term. The President's accusation must therefore be distinguished from the content of the agreement. [S4] [S7]

From gathering to voting

In Ohio, Obama supported former Senator Sherrod Brown against outgoing Republican Jon Husted, as well as Amy Acton, opposed to Vivek Ramaswamy for governorship. He urged his supporters to use the early, already open vote: "Do not procrastinate, do not steal. Beyond denunciation, his appeal proposes an immediate means of individual action: to participate in the election. [S4] [S7]

The national stake is the control of Congress, which will determine Trump's margin of manoeuvre for the continuation of his mandate. Obama thus presents the elections as an opportunity to curb the administration. His tour, however, has two distinct objectives: to support candidates for the executive power of states and to strengthen a parliamentary counterweight in Washington. [S10] [S11]

In Detroit, the second stage of this tour, Obama came to support Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic candidate in the Senate against Republican Mike Rogers. Jocelyn Benson, Democratic candidate for governor, was also involved in the mobilization. The displacement therefore extends the strategy undertaken in Ohio, not confused with the Cleveland rally. [S4] [S7]

The limits of personal attacks

The campaign also focuses on how to treat people. In Cleveland, Obama criticized a Ramaswamy advertisement featuring Amy Acton's mother, with whom she is breaking up, for accusing her of lying. Acton denounced the exploitation of his childhood for electoral purposes. This controversy raises the question of the place given to family history in the assessment of a candidate, beyond her decisions and program. [S10]

The Republican teams, for their part, dispute the scope of Obama's support. According to NBC News, Ramaswamy's spokesman blames Acton for mobilizing for the former president rather than for the inhabitants. Husted's attack on the fiscal, economic and migration balance of the Brown-Obama tandem. These statements are also part of the electoral argument, not of conclusions drawn by the report. [S11]

A mobilisation whose effect remains uncertain

Sources converge on contested races, but describe them differently: RTBF and Watson evoke a slight democratic advance in both Ohio elections, while NBC News presents them as undecided. Without comparing surveys, their dates and their margins of error, these formulations do not make it possible to establish a precise trend. The reports document a strategy for mobilization; They do not yet measure the own effect of Obama's coming on the vote. [S4] [S7] [S11]