Former President Barack Obama is heading back to the campaign trail in the final days of a pair of high-stakes gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey to stump for the respective Democrats in the cycles.
In the Old Dominion State, former CIA employee and former Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger is facing off against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Jamaican immigrant and Marine veteran. The election comes with a handful of historic firsts, including Earle-Sears becoming the state’s first Black female nominee for governor in a race that ultimately will result in Virginia electing the first female governor, regardless of which party wins the general election.
Obama will head to Virginia Nov. 1 to headline a political rally for Spanberger in Norfolk after endorsing her in a pair of political ads earlier in October that took shots at Republicans.
Obama stumping for the Virginia Democrats comes just a year after he landed in hot water for insisting Black male voters support then-Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign. Now, he is calling on Virginia voters to snub the Black female candidate in favor of Spanberger.
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A year ago, Obama was hot on the campaign trail for the Harris campaign, criss-crossing battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin to rally votes during the unprecedented cycle that first began with former President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket before he dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.
Obama scolded Black men during a campaign stop at a Pittsburgh campaign office, saying they appeared apprehensive to support a woman for president and that they should get on board with the Harris ticket.
“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said of support for Harris’ race.
“Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers. So if you don’t mind – just for a second, I’ve got to speak to y’all and say that when you have a choice that is this clean: When on the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, went to college with you, understands the struggles (and the) pain and joy that comes from those experiences,” Obama said, continuing that Trump “has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person – and you are thinking about sitting out?”
Part “of it makes me think, and I’m speaking to men directly… that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
The remark garnered pushback from some voters and groups that described the comments as “insulting” and “offensive.”
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“The general tone of it was disgusting,” one Black male voter from Philadelphia said of Obama’s comments during an MSNBC election panel at the time. “It was abhorrent. I didn’t respect it. I didn’t like nothing about it. And Kamala, two days after that, is like, ‘We love our Black men, we have programs and things that we’re rolling out for them’ and she rolled out policy.”
Spanberger’s campaign was rocked by an undercover video showing a campaign organizer lamenting the Virginia race pitted a “White woman who was in the CIA” against “a Black woman.”
“CIA agent, literally, which is crazy, like yeah, vote for the CIA agent, guys, like what the f—,” a campaign organizer for Spanberger said in a video with an undercover journalist in September that was first reported by Fox Digital.
“I don’t know what happened. We’re in, like, the darkest timeline,” she continued. “Our only choices are between a Black woman, which ordinarily all for, but this time you think we should bring back slavery, Winsome.… Even with that, it’s like either vote for the Black woman who thinks that slavery should be brought back or vote for the White woman who was in the CIA.”
Only two states across the country are holding gubernatorial elections this off-season election in 2025: New Jersey and Virginia. Earle-Sears is the only Black candidate to run for governor out of the four major-party candidates running in either state.
Obama officially endorsed Spanberger in a pair of ads released earlier in October celebrating her abortion and tax policies.
“Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year. We know Republicans will keep attacking abortion rights and the rights of women. That’s why having the right governor matters, and I’m proud to endorse Abigail Spanberger,” Obama said in an ad released earlier in October.
“Republican policies are raising costs on working families so (that) billionaires can get massive tax cuts,” he said in another ad endorsing Spanberger.
Fox News Digital reached out to Earle-Sears’ campaign for comment on Obama’s support of Spanberger but did not immediately receive a reply.
Obama’s office did not immediately respond when approached for comment on the upcoming Virginia rally and past remarks on Black male voters.
Obama also will head to New Jersey Saturday, where he will stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill as she looks to defeat Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.