Obama Will Campaign to Boost Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey Governors’ Races

‘Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year, and I am proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger for Governor,’ Obama said.

(Left) Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Buena Vista, Va., on Sept. 1, 2025; (Right) Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in Buena Vista, Va., on Sept. 1, 2025. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Former President Barack Obama will campaign next month alongside Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, right before their elections for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.

The Spanberger and Sherill campaigns announced on Oct. 21 that Obama will campaign for the two candidates at rallies in Norfolk, Virginia, and Newark, New Jersey, on Nov. 1, three days before election day.

The decision to campaign alongside the two Democrats comes just days after Obama endorsed both candidates last week. Spanberger, who worked in the CIA from 2006 to 2014 before being elected to Congress, is facing off against Marine Veteran and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia gubernatorial election.

“Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year, and I am proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger for Governor,” Obama said in his endorsement. “Republican policies are raising costs on working families so billionaires can get massive tax cuts.”

While aboard Air Force One on Oct. 20, President Donald Trump said he felt that Earle-Sears is a “very good” candidate.

“I think she should win,” he said.

Over in New Jersey, Sherrill, who has represented New Jersey’s 11th congressional district since 2019, is contending with Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state General Assembly member whom Trump recently endorsed.

“Put simply, Jack Ciattarelli will bring your Energy costs down to a new low, and Mikie Sherrill will do the exact opposite—Energy costs under her will go up by levels never seen before,” Trump wrote on social media.

Ciattarelli and Earle-Sears currently have no in-person events scheduled with Trump in New Jersey or Virginia, although the president may campaign remotely.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states with gubernatorial elections this year. Often, these off-year elections are seen as an indicator of how voters feel about the incumbent party in both the White House and Congress, particularly as focus shifts to next year’s midterms, which will determine who controls the legislative branch in Trump’s final two years in office.

Sherrill is vying to succeed Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited and beat Ciattarelli by only 3 percentage points in 2021, in a state that has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since 1992.

The Democratic National Committee announced on Oct. 21 that it was pledging an additional $500,000 for get-out-the-vote operations in the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races, as well as judicial races in Pennsylvania.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.