Former President Obama cut two ads for Pennsylvania Senate hopeful John Fetterman (D) as the Democratic surrogate campaigns for candidates ahead of the November midterms.
The Fetterman campaign said on Friday that they were launching several ads voiced by the former president, including a 30-second ad running statewide on digital platforms and a 60-radio ad running in the media market of Philadelphia. The radio ads started airing this week and the digital ads will run in the coming weeks.
“In Pennsylvania, you’ve got some important choices to make this year, including who represents you in the U.S. Senate. That’s why I’m asking you to vote for John Fetterman this election day, Nov. 8,” Obama says in the 30-second ad.
“So when the fate of our democracy and a woman’s right to choose are on the line, I know John will fight for Pennsylvanians. You can count on John Fetterman. Make sure he can count on you. Vote Democrat on Nov. 8.”
In a statement the Senate candidate said he was “grateful” for Obama’s support.
“I was proud to be one of the only elected officials in western Pennsylvania to endorse President Obama in the 2008 presidential primary, and it is truly an honor for him to get behind our campaign and cut ads for us across the commonwealth,” Fetterman said.
The former president will be making several campaign stops next week, including a stop in Atlanta on Oct. 28, two stops on Oct. 29 in Detroit, Mich. and Milwaukee and a stop in Reno on Nov. 1, the week after. Several of those states feature high-profile Senate races that will play a role in which party holds power next cycle in the upper chamber.
Obama’s presence on the campaign trail has been welcomed more warmly than that of President Biden’s at times, the latter of whom is suffering from underwater approval ratings, though some recent polling has shown an upward tick, and whom Republicans have directed responsibility of the country’s economic woes toward.
But some Democrats believe that the former president’s campaign events are coming too late in the cycle as the November elections loom less than three weeks away.
