Democrats turn to Barack Obama in hopes of overcoming persistent divisions

Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for free

The most important stories about money and politics in the race for the White House

Barack Obama will seek to unite Democrats behind Kamala Harris on Tuesday as the former president uses his political star power in the center-left camp to overcome any differences over her candidacy against Donald Trump.

The party has tried to cover up differences over Middle East policy and hostility surrounding the ousting of President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s front-runner in recent weeks, but Democratic leaders remain concerned about the simmering friction that persists just beneath the surface.

Although Obama, 63, has been out of office for nearly eight years, he is one of the party’s most popular and influential figures, and convention organizers hope his prime-time address on Tuesday can help bring embittered activists back into the party.

Obama will be the keynote speaker on the second night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where Harris will be crowned the party’s nominee for the White House this week. Biden left the city after his farewell address to delegates on Monday evening.

Obama’s appearance in his hometown comes at a time when some Democrats are drawing parallels between his successful campaign in 2008, when he was elected the first black U.S. president, and Harris’ bid to become the country’s first female president.

According to a person familiar with Obama’s speech, he will lay out to Democrats “the task ahead of them over the next 11 weeks and focus on the values ​​that are at stake in this election and at the heart of our politics.”

Former first lady Michelle Obama, who also remains extremely popular within the party, will tell the DNC audience that Harris will “open a new chapter in fear and division,” the person added.

While Democrats have shown renewed enthusiasm for Harris since she replaced Biden on the ballot just a month ago, Harris will need to convert the initial enthusiasm for her candidacy into votes in swing states.

Harris still faces opposition from parts of the left who are unhappy with the Biden administration’s handling of the Gaza war, and she remains under pressure to convince the American middle class that her economic policies are better than Trump’s.

Harris’ advisers, however, have been buoyed by a sharp rise in poll numbers in recent weeks that has put her ahead of Trump in some national polls and in some of the crucial swing states that will decide the election.

“Kamala Harris is reaching people, she’s communicating with them in a way that they obviously find effective, unlike Donald Trump,” David Plouffe, a senior adviser to Harris’ campaign who managed Obama’s 2008 candidacy, said Tuesday at an event on the sidelines of the DNC.

Plouffe also accused Trump, 78, of having a “really lazy schedule” in his campaign for a second term this year, compared to his level of activity in 2016 and 2020.

Trump traveled to Michigan, another major swing state, on Tuesday to speak about “crime and safety” as he ramps up his campaign. On social media, he criticized Biden’s “angry and ranting speech full of lies” and falsely claimed that the jobs created under Biden and Harris were “almost 100 percent due to illegal immigrants pouring into our country.”

Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night before Obama’s speech, traveling to the same city where Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination last month.

Wisconsin, like Michigan, is one of three states in the Great Lakes region known as the “Blue Wall” that are key battlegrounds in the election. But Plouffe said Harris is also doing better in several Sunbelt states than Biden did against Trump, making her competitive again.

“A month ago, I think it would have been difficult for the Democrats to win in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia or North Carolina,” he said. “I think those are all credible states again where Kamala Harris could win.”

According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average, Harris is 2.9 percentage points ahead of Trump nationally and narrowly ahead in most swing states.