Obama the 'campaign closer' for Democrats in top 2025 elections as party aims to rebound

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Former President Barack Obama teams up with Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of crucial California election over congressional redistricting

Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday joined Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on an organizing call for California's Proposition 50, ahead of next month's vote on congressional redistricting. (Credit: Gavin Newsom via YouTube - Oct. 22, 2025)

In the final stretch leading up to Election Day 2025, former President Barack Obama is everywhere.

From coast to coast, the former president is hoping to help push fellow Democrats over the finish line in the most high-profile and consequential ballot box showdowns this year as his party aims to rebound following last year's election setbacks.

"A lot of us do not believe that politicians should choose their voters, they believe the voters should choose who's going to represent them. That's the meaning of democracy," the former two-term president said Wednesday as he joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom on an organizing call for California's Proposition 50.

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Former President Barack Obama speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

And on Nov. 1, which is the final Saturday before Election Day, Obama will headline rallies in New Jersey and Virginia, the only two states holding elections for governor this year.

California voters will decide in next month's election whether to pass the proposition, which will give congressional redistricting powers in the left-leaning state back to the Democrat-dominated legislature over the coming years. 

The move would likely create up to five more blue-leaning U.S. House seats in the nation's most populous state, and counter new maps drawn in GOP-dominated Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina that will likely create up to seven Republican-leaning districts.

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It's part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats need a pickup of just three seats to win back control of the House.

President Donald Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

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Obama argued that the Trump-led effort by Republicans across the country is "brazen."

"The problem that we are seeing right now is that our current president and his administration is explicitly saying that we want to change the rules of the game mid-stream in order to insulate ourselves from the people's judgment," the former president said as he joined Newsom.

Obama, who is appearing in "Yes on 50" TV ads, said that passing the proposition in California would give Democrats "a chance, at least, to create a level playing field in the upcoming midterm elections."

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The former president is also appearing in ads in New Jersey for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who's locked in a close contest with GOP rival Jack Ciattarelli in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat.

And he's starring in spots for former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, who's facing off against Republican rival Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the showdown to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, seen at an early voting rally on Sept. 19, 2025, in Henrico, Virginia, is the Democratic Party's nominee in this year's election for governor. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

For Democrats, who are aiming to escape the political wilderness after losing control of the White House and Senate majority and falling short in winning back the House last year, the 2025 ballot box showdowns are their first major shot at redemption, and they hope that Obama's two-state swing will energize their base voters.

But for the former president, whose crowning domestic achievement — the Affordable Care Act, which is better known as Obamacare — is front-and-center in the current federal government shutdown and a top issue on the 2025 campaign trail, his return to the campaign trail is also about protecting his legacy.

"President Obama reminds us what we can accomplish when we leaders are unafraid to take on big challenges to deliver," New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement. "He led historic efforts to insure millions of Americans and lower healthcare costs."

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, on the stage moments at the start of their second and final debate, on Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News Digital)

Obama is often referred to as the Democrats' campaign closer as they point to his recurring role since leaving office nine years ago as the party's most effective campaign trail communicator.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in January, Obama had a 59% favorable rating among Americans, higher than any other living former president. And among Democrats, his  favorable rating stood at an astronomical 96%.

"He's the best communicator of our generation. The pathway back lies largely in meeting people where they are, and President Obama showed in his two election victories that he can do that," seasoned Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital.

But Erin Maguire, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator who served in top communications positions for then-House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, for Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, and later led communications for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, disagrees.

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"It shows what a vacuum of leadership there is in the Democrat Party that Obama has to be the closer here," she emphasized.

Pointing to Trump's come-from-behind 2016 White House victory, Maguire argued "there was a complete rejection of the Obama era when Donald Trump was elected to office… For Democrats, this just shows what a monumental mess their whole party is that Obama has to be the strongest voice on any of these races."