Michelle Obama is not only finally hitting the campaign trail for Kamala Harris: She’s hitting it with Harris. (Her husband is, too.)
The vice president will appear with former President Barack Obama at a Thursday rally in Georgia, followed by an Oct. 26 appearance with former first lady Michelle Obama, according to a senior campaign official granted anonymity to discuss the unannounced campaign plans.
The event will mark Michelle Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail for Harris — and comes amid private speculations among Democrats over when the former first lady would make a public campaign appearance and answer her own emphatic call at the Democratic National Convention for Democrats to “do something.” (During the impassioned address, Michelle Obama shared how she almost didn’t make it to the convention because of her battle with grief after her mother’s recent death.)
“It’s up to us to remember what Kamala’s mother told her: ‘Don’t just sit around and complain. Do something.’ So if they lie about her — and they will — we’ve got to do something,” Michelle Obama said at the convention. “If we see a bad poll — and we will — we’ve got to put down that phone and do something. If we start feeling tired, if we start feeling that dread creeping back in, we gotta pick ourselves up, throw water on our face and what? Do something.”
The former first lady remains extremely popular with the American public, and was the only Democrat in a July Reuters/Ipsos poll to beat Trump in a hypothetical matchup — winning 50 percent support to his 39 percent — amid questions about whether President Joe Biden could continue on as the Democratic nominee and who would replace him.
Barack Obama has already hit the trail, campaigning last week in Pittsburgh with stops planned for Tucson, Las Vegas, Detroit and Madison in the coming days.
Campaign aides see the events as an opportunity to gin up enthusiasm and drive people out to the polls before Election Day. Early voting in Georgia is already underway, and will run until Nov. 1, while Michiganders can cast their early ballots statewide starting Oct. 26 — though people in Detroit can head to the polls as early as Saturday.
