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Former President Barack Obama urged support for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam during a rally Oct. 19 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Obama praised Northam, a pediatric neurologist and former Army doctor, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe for their work on health care and efforts to expand the ACA in Virginia. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Virginia's election is "about whether we can support and embrace somebody who wants to bring people together,” Obama told the audience at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Speaking in support of Northam (right) and other Democrats, Obama said, "To all the young people out here — I think it's great that you hashtag, and meme — but I need you to vote.” (Photo by Jay Paul)
In his first round of public appearances since leaving office, former President Barack Obama lauded the Democratic tickets in the upcoming Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections on Thursday night.
The Richmond Convention Center was packed with 7,500 people as Obama closed the evening event with a 34-minute speech urging Virginians to mobilize and vote for Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee, in his bid for governor against Republican lobbyist and political operative Ed Gillespie on Nov. 7.
“Do you believe that everyone should not be judged by the color of their skin, or who they love — but by the content of their character?” Obama asked, invoking a reference to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and garnering deafening cheers from the audience.
Throughout the night, local and state politicians reiterated the importance of Virginians’ votes in the off-year election by highlighting often intimate aspects of personhood: matters of race, women’s health, marriage equality, voting district lines, affordable health care, access to education and the right to vote at all.
“It's about whether we can support and embrace somebody who wants to bring people together,” Obama said as the audience launched into “yes we can” chants. “I've always believed in that sort of politics.”
Immediately to the left of the stage was an entire section of seats — the floor was standing-room only — for supporters and recipients dedicated to keeping, and expanding, the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) in Virginia. Some occupied wheelchairs, others required separate accommodations — but all were there in support of the ACA, one of the cornerstones of Northam’s campaign.
Obama praised Northam, a pediatric neurologist and former Army doctor, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe for their work on health care and efforts to expand the ACA in Virginia.
“When Ralph was tending to our wounded warriors, he wasn't thinking about whether they were Democrats or Republicans — he was thinking about how they were Americans defending our country,” Obama said. “'This is somebody who you will be proud to have as your governor. Ralph's whole life has been about honest, responsible service to others.”
Although Obama never mentioned Gillespie or President Donald Trump by name, he pointedly attacked the nature of divisive, “fear-based” tactics and politics. Gillespie recently released a wave of campaign ads that some perceived to be more in line with a Trump approach than with his own more moderate reputation.
In the ads, Gillespie links Northam to MS-13 gang violence by stating that the lieutenant governor cast the tie-breaker vote against a GOP-sponsored bill banning sanctuary cities in Virginia, which both candidates have agreed do not currently exist in the state. Northam said the measure was unnecessary; it ultimately passed the House and Senate, but was vetoed by McAuliffe. The ad also prominently displays the words “KILL. RAPE. CONTROL.” — the MS-13 motto, but also reminiscent of Trump-campaign-style rhetoric surrounding the Latino and immigrant communities.
“This is about whether we can support and embrace somebody who wants to bring people together,” Obama said. “Here's one thing I know — if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you're not going to be able to govern them.”
Polls had shown Northam maintained a close, but consistent, lead over Gillespie for months, but the most recent poll indicated Gillespie may have a 1 point advantage, despite the Democrat’s nearly 2:1 spending on campaign ads.
Chelsea Jones, the Richmond field organizer for the Northam campaign, emphasized that McAuliffe won in 2009 by about 53,000 votes — about a quarter of the population in Richmond.
“It's close here — it's always close here, and that's why it's important that we get Democrats out to vote,” Jones said.
The night kicked off with a burst of energy on stage as Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, former secretary of the commonwealth under McAuliffe, praised his former colleagues and Virginia Democrats.
"We've got a damn good team in Virginia — a good team, a team that has a given a voice to the voiceless,” Stoney said. “Democracy is made of the people — more than that of elected officials — you get what you put in. You put in good, you get good out; you put bad in, you get bad out.”
Stoney was instrumental during McAuliffe’s statewide push to reinstate voting rights to felons across the state last year, and he and McAuliffe both touted the achievement while reiterating how proud they were, and how significant the step was for Virginia.
“We have restored more rights that any state in the entire history of America,” McAuliffe said. “That's what you get when you elect Democrats to office, folks.”
Rep. Donald McEachin, who spent most of his time on stage stumping for Attorney General Mark Herring and Lt. Gov. candidate Justin Fairfax, was openly critical of Fairfax’s opponent, Jill Vogel, and of Gillespie and Trump
“Do you want a lobbyist to be your next governor? Do you want someone in Donald Trump’s party to be your next governor?” McEachin asked. “Do you understand the eyes of the world are on Virginia? And we must push back against Donald Trump?”
Rep. Robert Scott, Fairfax, Herring, McAuliffe, Northam and finally Obama each reiterated the need to combat Trump-era politics, but also underscored the necessity of bringing voters together under an umbrella of unity — and most important — actually voting in the off-year election next month.
“You've made history in this state when you elected Doug Wilder as the first African-American governor; you made history in 2008 when Barack Obama was the first Democrat to carry Virginia,” McAuliffe said. “So I need you to work your hearts and souls out for the next 18 days. Are you ready to do it? We need you.”
The crowd responded with an emphatic chorus of “Yes!”
Obama refocused the national conversation on Virginia — often considered a referendum on a new president because the state has a tendency to elect the opposite party in such off-year elections — and brought it full circle back to Richmond, and Gillespie.
“If we're gonna talk about history — we shouldn't use the most painful parts of our history to do it,” Obama said, a subtle reference to the conversations dominating local politics concerning Confederate monuments. “We saw what happened at Charlottesville, but we also saw what happened after Charlottesville — we rejected fear, and we rejected hate — that's how we rise. We don't rise up by repeating the past.”
Gillespie narrowly won the Republican gubernatorial primary against firebrand former Trump campaign manager Corey Stewart. The marginal victory was shocking to many political analysts who considered Gillespie, a mainstream establishment politician, the favorite over Stewart, an outspoken supporter of preserving Confederate monuments. More recently, GIllespie has adopted an approach more aligned with Stewart’s — defending the statues and Confederate heritage.
Obama quipped that “as some of you may know, my father is Kenyan,” but explained that on his mother’s side there was a lesser-known family history. (Trump infamously helped propagate the “birther” movement in 2008, which questioned whether Obama was even a U.S. citizen due to his father’s Kenyan heritage.)
“I'm the eighth or ninth or something cousin removed from Jefferson Davis, who headed the Confederacy,” Obama said. “Think about that ... I bet he's spinning in his grave.”
He also thanked his “good friends” in Richmond and across Virginia, including former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, who Obama said were the first to support him during his 2008 presidential campaign.
“I said to Tim and Anne, 'What the heck are y’all doing?' because nobody could pronounce my name yet,” Obama recounted. “I think they believed in me before Michelle did, so I've always had warm feelings for Virginia.”
The former president then made a slew of appeals to Virginia’s younger voting population — which in Richmond, especially, could help swing the election.
“The question is — will you show up to vote on Nov. 7? To all the young people out here — I think it's great that you hashtag, and meme — but I need you to vote.”
In Virginia there are 50 first-time candidates running for the House, Obama said to the crowd, and more than half of them are women.
“So if you want a House of Delegates that looks full like Virginia — make sure you get out and vote for the whole ticket, not just a part of the ticket,” he said. “That's American politics at its best — that's an America I can believe in, Ralph can believe in, Justin can believe in, Mark can believe in.”
