Ohio; Michigan: Former US President Barack Obama campaigned for Democratic candidates in Ohio and Michigan on Saturday, criticising President Donald Trump's economic policies, conduct and White House renovations while urging voters to support Democrats ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.
Obama appeared at rallies in Cleveland and Detroit, campaigning for Democratic US Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton in Ohio, and Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
With the elections set to determine control of the closely divided US Congress, Obama urged voters to view the polls as an opportunity to challenge the Trump administration.
“This election is our last best chance to at least rein in on some of the foolishness of this administration,” he said at a rally in Cleveland.
Obama argued that Americans were facing higher costs because of administration policies, including what he described as “an unnecessary war that nobody asked for and nobody voted for”.
The former president also mocked Trump over White House renovation projects, including the addition of a ballroom and the use of gold accents in rooms such as the Oval Office.
“He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said.
At the Detroit rally, where he campaigned for El-Sayed, Obama accused Trump of corruption and criticised what he described as the president's focus on personal financial gain.
“We have never seen a president excel in straight-up grifting, on your dime, like this,” Obama said. “Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this.”
Obama also criticised Trump's strategy towards Iran and framed the November 3 vote as a turning point for the country.
“This election can be a course correction in America's long journey towards a more perfect union,” he said.
Obama, who served as president from 2009 until Trump began his first term in 2017, remains a prominent figure among Democrats. The party hopes his campaign appearances will energise supporters ahead of closely contested Senate races.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in August found that 63 per cent of Americans believed Trump and his family had inappropriately profited from cryptocurrency since he returned to the White House in 2025. The poll also found that 69 per cent believed his policy decisions were influenced by his private business dealings.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Ohio, Obama also criticised Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over a campaign advertisement featuring Amy Acton's estranged mother disputing Acton's account of a childhood involving homelessness and sexual abuse.
In the advertisement, Acton's mother urged Ohio voters not to support her daughter.
Acton has said she has not seen her mother since 1978. Her brother has supported her account of being sexually abused by her stepfather during childhood. The stepfather, who died in 2004, had been charged with rape.
Obama condemned the advertisement, saying political candidates should be held to standards of decency.
“There's a decency that we should expect out of our public officials,” he said. “I don't know what's happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody can run an ad like that.”
Acton responded to the controversy at Saturday's rally, telling supporters she would not back down from the contest.
“Apparently, there is no low to which you won't stoop. But look, I am a scrappy kid from Youngstown and scrappy kids from Youngstown, we never back down from a fight,” she said, drawing applause and cheers.
Opinion polls showed Acton narrowly leading Ramaswamy ahead of the election. Analysts said the controversy surrounding the advertisement could backfire on Republicans before the midterms.
In Michigan, Obama campaigned for El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers, a former US representative, in a closely contested Senate race.
The November 3 elections will determine control of Congress, with both parties seeking to mobilise supporters in a closely divided political landscape.