With just over a week to go before the US midterm elections, Republican President Donald J. Trump and Democratic former president Barack Obama campaigned for their respective parties in the south and north, trading barbs over the cost of living and the economy — voters’ top concerns.
On Saturday (24 October), Obama visited Ohio and Michigan in the Midwestern Rust Belt, drawing on his popularity among the Democratic base to rally support for the party’s candidates.
Obama blamed the Trump administration’s decisions for high petrol prices and rising living costs, saying Trump had made a series of bad decisions and even started an unnecessary war that nobody wanted.
He told voters in Cleveland, Ohio: “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get a chance to say, 'Enough is enough'. We are voting for change right here in Ohio.”
Former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown is challenging Republican Ohio Senator Jon Husted, while Democrat Amy Acton is facing former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in the race for Ohio governor.
Polls show the Democratic candidates holding a slight advantage in both races, but the results are expected to be close.
Obama urged voters to cast their ballots early rather than delay or hesitate. He also accused the Trump administration of focusing on trivial issues, saying Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was concerned with “important matters” such as soldiers’ jawlines and testosterone levels, and mocking Trump’s White House renovation project as tasteless.
Later that day, Obama travelled to Michigan, another fiercely contested state, to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
Trump hit back at Obama in a social media post on Sunday (25 October), urging Michigan voters to support Republican candidate Mike Rogers.
He wrote: “Obama was a grossly incompetent President! He paid off Iran with $Billions, and gave them a road to a Nuclear Weapon.” He was referring to the Iran nuclear deal negotiated during Obama’s presidency.
Trump visited the key southern battleground state of Georgia on Saturday to campaign for Republican candidates. He defended his tariff policy and announced that Germany’s Volkswagen would build an Audi factory in the state.
Trump said total investment in the new plant would be US$4.2 billion (about S$5.4 billion), with annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles. He said it would be the largest single investment in the history of the US car industry, adding: “Without tariffs, they wouldn’t be coming in”.
Critics, however, say Trump’s tariff policy has pushed up car prices, while the resulting trade uncertainty has also led some carmakers to postpone investment plans.
Georgia was once a Republican stronghold, but the party’s Senate candidate is now trailing the Democratic opponent by a significant margin in the polls.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump and his wife Melania Trump voted early in the midterm elections in West Palm Beach, Florida. Responding to questions from reporters there, Trump said he had voted for Republican candidates.
He also said there was corruption in Democratic-controlled areas and repeated his claim that his defeat in the 2020 election was due to rigging.
Trump has long claimed that early voting breeds electoral fraud. But with Republicans facing difficult races, he has recently changed his stance and urged Republican voters to cast their ballots early.
