Obama and Clinton to raise votes for Harris in photo finish contest

Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton will hit the campaign trial in coming weeks, targeting key battleground states in a bid to energise the party’s base and edge out Donald Trump.

Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail to mobilise support for Kamala Harris. Picture: AFP.

Former US Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are being rolled out to boost Kamala Harris in the final weeks of the campaign, targeting key battleground states in a bid to energise the party’s base and edge out Donald Trump in the contest for the White House.

Mr Obama, America’s first black President, will headline a rally on Thursday night local time at the University of Pittsburgh in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, increasingly seen as the most likely to tip the election race given its 19 Electoral College votes.

The Harris and Trump campaigns – along with their supporters – are reported to have sunk $350m alone into television ads in the nation’s fifth most populous state, with expectations high that Mr Obama will be able to use his popularity and sharpen the appeal of the Democratic campaign for both black men and younger voters.

An analysis of voter registration conducted by the Centre for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University revealed in September that, of 34 states examined, only eight had lifted youth (age 18-29) registrations from November 2020.

The Harris campaign views the youth vote as a key constituency which could help deliver the White House in November, with Mr Obama’s rally at Pittsburgh University expected to be only the first of several key appearances aimed at mobilising support for Ms Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.

In addition to the deployment of Mr Obama, Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams posted on social media platform X on Thursday morning that former president Clinton would be helping out on the ground.

“The Harris campaign unleashes the Big Dog Bill Clinton to hit the rural South for Harris this week, stumping in Georgia and eastern North Carolina,” he said.

Mr Sams said Mr Clinton would be “going back to a kind of campaigning that he hasn’t done since before he became the ‘Comeback Kid’” – a reference to the tag Mr Clinton used to describe himself following the 1992 New Hampshire primary where he outperformed expectations before going on to win the presidency.

Mr Clinton will campaign in Georgia on Sunday and Monday, with CNN reporting this will be followed by a bus tour through North Carolina next week depending on the recovery efforts following hurricane Helene.

Senior adviser to Mr Obama, Eric Schultz, said the former president was doing “everything he can to help elect Vice President Harris” and that “our focus is on persuading and mobilising voters, especially in states with key races.”

“Many of these races are likely to go down to the wire and nothing should be taken for granted.”

Mr Obama and wife Michelle endorsed Ms Harris in July and spoke at the Democratic National Convention, with the influential former president seen to have played a part behind the scene in encouraging Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 contest following his poor performance in the debate against Mr Trump.

Obama, who twice won the state of Pennsylvania, told the Democratic National Convention in August that Ms Harris – if elected president – would not “just cater to her own supporters, punish those who refuse to kiss the ring or bend the knee. She’ll work on behalf of every American.”

“This is a person who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion.”

Ahead of Mr Obama’s rally in Pittsburgh, Mr Trump used a major campaign speech to the Detroit Economic Club in the swing state of Michigan to rail against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trading agreement and unveil a plan to revive the US auto-sector.

Mr Trump warned the TPP - from which he withdrew the US in January 2017 - would have “absolutely destroyed” the local car manufacturing industry as he talked up a “renaissance” for automotive industry workers if he was elected on November 5.

In an announcement aimed at winning over automotive workers in the battleground state, Mr Trump revealed a blueprint to make “interest on car loans fully deductible” saying the move would “revolutionise your industry.”

“This will stimulate massive domestic auto-production and make car ownership dramatically more affordable for millions and millions of working American families,” he said.

Mr Trump also used the platform to take aim at “globalist politicians” for devastating manufacturing in the city and contributing to the loss of millions of jobs along with NAFTA and the entry of China to the World Trade Organisation.

“Detriot was decimated as if by a foreign army,” he said.