Barack Obama has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office in 2017.
Washington:
Former US President Barack Obama said on Friday that democracy is at stake in next month’s midterm elections in the United States, as he hit his first stop on the campaign trail.
The Democratic power player, who remains a hugely popular figure in his party, told a loud rally in Georgia that everyone must get out and vote to stop electoral conspiracy theorists from getting their hands on the levers of power.
“It’s not enough to elect a Democrat on top of the ticket,” Obama said, angry with a crowd in the Atlanta suburbs.
“We need to elect good people at the top and bottom of the ballot. Across the country, some people trying to undermine our democracy are running for offices that will oversee the next election. And if they win If so, no one can tell what might happen,” he said.
Obama, who has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office in 2017, was the guest of honor at the rally in Georgia, where two extremely close contests, driven by tens of millions of dollars, are wooing America.
Democrat Raphael Warnock, the first black US senator elected in a southern state with a long history of segregation, is seeking re-election against former American football star Herschelle Walker backed by Donald Trump.
The competition may well decide which party controls the US Senate — and its ability to advance or frustrate President Joe Biden’s agenda.
There is also a fierce battle for the governor’s office, with Republican Brian Kemp pitting influential Democratic figure Stacy Abrams.
As well as hammering the Republican Party over electoral integrity and the Trump-driven false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, Obama also touched on abortion rights, a long-standing row by the Supreme Court v. Wade has been threatened since overturning.
“Women everywhere should be able to control what happens to their own bodies,” he said.
“It should not be controversial to say that the most individualized health care choices should be made by a woman and her doctor. Not by a group of mostly male politicians.”
Americans have already begun voting in elections that will decide control of both houses of Congress, as well as who gets the mansions of governors in dozens of states.
Hundreds of other positions at the county and state level will also be decided in the November 8 election.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)