PITTSBURGH — Former president Barack Obama on Thursday made a direct, impassioned plea to black men to support Vice President Kamala Harris — a key demographic she is struggling to mobilize — at times admonishing them for thinking about sitting out the presidential contest and suggesting sexism might be at play.
During an unannounced stop at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, which came just hours before he was set to appear at his first campaign rally for Harris, Obama said he wanted to “speak some truths” and address black men specifically, making his most stark and direct remarks about their hesitancy in supporting Harris to date.
“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said, adding that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”
Obama questioned how voters, and black voters specifically, could be on the fence about whether to support Harris or former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experience,” Obama said, ticking off a list of Harris’s policy proposals. In Trump, he added, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person,” Obama said. “And you are thinking about sitting out?”
The former president then directly addressed what he thought might be contributing to the soft support among black men: some men’s discomfort with the idea of electing the first female president.
“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think— and I’m speaking to men directly— part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
Obama’s comments created a remarkable moment: The nation’s first Black president urging other Black men to rally behind potentially the first female president, who is a woman of color, amid suggestions that the voting bloc is showing a notable lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy. Harris is Black and Indian American.
The “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” Obama said. “When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting. And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”
Obama began hitting the campaign trail on Thursday, stopping first in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important to Harris’s path to victory. In all seven battleground states — which also include Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona — Trump and Harris are effectively tied, as the Harris campaign has said it expects a tightly contested presidential race that will come down to razor-thin margins.
Obama’s efforts will largely be focused on states and counties where early voting has begun in the hope that his appearances can then motivate voters to immediately act and cast their ballots. But his message to black men on Thursday marked a departure from the upbeat and joyful message Harris, her running mate Tim Walz and other surrogates have largely adhered to in their efforts to motivate the small number of undecided voters across the critical battleground states and demographic groups that Harris is struggling with.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, said in an interview that the direct address to black men was the “right thing to do,” adding that Obama can motivate other key groups Harris needs to win.
“He is one of the most broadly popular figures and impactful surrogates within the party,” Axelrod said. “But he has particular reach into some of the constituencies she needs to motivate: younger voters, and particularly younger Black voters.”
Aides said Obama and Harris are likely to appear together at some point before the election on Nov. 5, but it is not yet clear when. In the final 25 days before the presidential election, Harris, Walz and the campaign’s most effective surrogates are blanketing the airwaves and crisscrossing the country hoping to convince the small number of undecided voters to support Harris.
They are also targeting people who have not yet decided whether to vote — particularly young voters and people of color, groups that Obama turned out in record numbers during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
Harris was campaigning on the other side of the country from Obama on Thursday as the campaign works to reach as many voters as possible each day. She pre-taped a Univision town hall in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon, then was scheduled to deliver remarks at a campaign rally in Arizona later in the evening.
Obama’s efforts will also focus on supporting House and Senate Democrats, including Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who released an ad featuring Obama earlier this week. Democrats are hoping to hold on to their razor-thin Senate majority and retake the House of Representatives.
Harris and Obama have a relationship that dates back about 20 years, an Obama aide said. The two first met on the campaign trail when Obama was running a long-shot bid for one of Illinois’s U.S. Senate seats and Harris was an early supporter. Since 2020, when Harris became President Joe Biden’s running mate, Obama has been in regular touch with Harris “to provide counsel and be a sounding board whenever asked,” the Obama aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personal relationship.
The two have also been in regular touch since Harris launched her presidential bid less than three months ago after Biden’s exit from the presidential race. Obama told Harris he would help her in the final months and weeks of the campaign, including fundraising, policy or strategic advice and hitting the campaign trail, the Obama aide said.