‘Change is in the air’: Obama calls El-Sayed campaign ‘feels just a little bit different’
Speaking about the nearly 20 years he’s been in national politics, Barack Obama joked that he’s been campaigning for too long – but said because of the experience “I can tell you when an election comes along that feels just a little bit different.”
“An election where people are so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired, that everywhere you go it feels like change is in the air. And Michigan that’s what I’m feeling right now,” Obama said.
Updated at 18.59 EDT
Key events
“These are unsettling times,” Barack Obama said in his address at Abdul El-Sayed’s rally in Detroit, urging voters to elect “serious” candidates who share their values.
The former president noted that the economy is changing fast, artificial intelligence is set to change the world and the United States is facing a major housing shortage. He added that the Republican party no longer seemed to be the party of small government, and that Democrats are struggling to deliver quickly enough for people.
“We need serious people in Washington and state capitals,” Obama said. “These are serious times. This is not the time for reality TV.”
He added that “we need to make sure we elect” candidates like Abdul El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson. “They understand that what ails us right now, what’s throwing this country off kilter so much” is “about values.”
Barack Obama encouraged voters to elect Democratic governors and members of Congress in November’s midterms to check the Trump administration.
“This election is our last, best chance to at least reign in some of the foolishness of this administration,” Obama said.
Former President Barack Obama, speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Cass Technical High School Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Detroit. Photograph: Paul Sancya/APShare
Updated at 19.16 EDT
Barack Obama criticized Donald Trump for profiting off the presidency during his address in Detroit.
“We have never seen a president straight-up excel at grifting on your dime like this,” Obama said. “We have lost count of all the deals he and his family have done.”
“He should be on HGTV,” Obama said of Donald Trump’s many renovations in Washington, including the White House ballroom and Rose Garden. “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”
“Don’t boo, vote,” Barack Obama repeated throughout his speech in Michigan, responding when rally goers booed at Obama’s description of current policies being pursued by the Trump administration.
Barack Obama criticized Donald Trump from levying tariffs and starting trade wars with “that well known evil empire, Canada.”
“These are the people who gave us Martin Short and Maple syrup. They are the nicest people,” Obama said.
Barack Obama called Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration officials “not serious people.”
Obama said the secretary of defense was more concerned about “the jawline and testosterone levels of our troops” and “livestreaming executions” than ending the war in Iran.
“How much time do you think this man spends in front of the mirror every day?” Obama joked.
Barack Obama criticized “the current occupant of the White House”’ and his 2024 campaign promises “to keep costs down” during his appearance in Detroit.
“I don’t have to tell you how tough things are out there, you’re living it,” Obama said, echoing the Democratic Party’s affordability message that has driven this midterms cycle.
Obama acknowledged that, as a past president, he realized some factors were beyond a president’s control, but said “the administration’s actions are directly responsible for rising costs.”
Barack Obama criticized the last “ten years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, tomfoolery, nonsense, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times at least” during his address in Detroit.
Share‘Change is in the air’: Obama calls El-Sayed campaign ‘feels just a little bit different’
Speaking about the nearly 20 years he’s been in national politics, Barack Obama joked that he’s been campaigning for too long – but said because of the experience “I can tell you when an election comes along that feels just a little bit different.”
“An election where people are so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired, that everywhere you go it feels like change is in the air. And Michigan that’s what I’m feeling right now,” Obama said.
Updated at 18.59 EDT
Barack Obama rallies for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan
Barack Obama has taken the stage at Abdul El-Sayed’s rally in Detroit.
“Detroit, it’s good to be back in Detroit,” he said as he took the podium.
Updated at 18.48 EDT
Abdul El-Sayed said that growing up with “an eleven letter first name” he never thought he could run for office, until he saw a man named “Barack Hussein Obama” become president.
Abdul El-Sayed said his experience spending summers in Egypt and returning to the United States as a child shaped his love for the country, denouncing claims that he was too critical of the United States.
“I love America. I’m so grateful I get to raise my two daughters here in America. I just love America enough to call on her to be America for all of her kids,” he said.
Abdul El-Sayed led rally goers in a chant of “it just shouldn’t be this hard” at his rally in Detroit.
“Shouldn’t be this hard to afford a second bag of groceries”, to fill up your tank, to pay your rent or your mortgage, to see a doctor, or to “pay your taxes and know that that money’s going to be spent on you and your kids, instead of dropping bombs on somebody else and their kids,” he said.
ShareAbdul El-Sayed takes stage before Obama in Detroit
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, has begun speaking in Detroit.
Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed, left, looks on as former President Barack Obama, right, and Democratic gubernatorial nominee and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson speak during a campaign event at Cass Technical High School Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Detroit. Photograph: Paul Sancya/APShare
Updated at 18.49 EDT
Michigan gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson denounced Donald Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election, and described her efforts as secretary of state that year in her address to voters in Detroit.
“In 2028, the path to the presidency, to the future of our nation, runs right through Michigan,” she said. “Who do you want running this state when Donald Trump tries to pressure the governor to overturn an election, or to turn over your private voting information in the lead up to an election?”
Rally goers in Michigan are now waiting for Abdul El-Sayed and Barack Obama to arrive at the venue in Detroit, where state candidates including senator Elissa Slotkin and US House candidate Christina Hines have already spoken.
Jocelyn Benson, the current secretary of state who’s running to be the state’s next governor, has just begun speaking – suggesting El-Sayed and Obama may not be far behind.
Updated at 18.20 EDT
With just 10 days until the US midterm elections, early voting data is rolling in nationwide.
As my colleagues Shrai Popat and Lucy Campbell reported yesterday, that data shows:
1. Turnout is surging in key battleground states
As of Friday afternoon, more than 23 million Americans had already voted in person or by mail. Among the key battleground states, Michigan and Ohio have each passed 900,000 ballots cast, while Georgia has recorded almost 1.5m early votes, North Carolina more than 1.2m, Florida almost 2.2m and Texas more than 2.8m, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, as of 23 October.
2. Those early votes are pacing well ahead of 2022
Early voting is soaring compared with the last midterms in many of the battleground states, which will decide control of the Senate.
3. Democrats lead in early returns
Registered Democrats account for 45% of early ballots cast, compared with 30% from Republicans (tracking returned ballots, not candidate selection). The party gap is particularly pronounced in North Carolina, Kansas and Iowa – all states that traditionally favor Republicans.
4. Mail-in voting remains resilient
More than 57m mail-in ballots have been requested or sent nationally – greater than the 52m requested in 2022 – according to NBC News, using data from TargetSmart. The University of Florida’s Election Lab has the figure for mail-in ballots requested at more than 59m.
Here’s their full report: