Barack Obama rallies with Mikie Sherrill as part of final pitch for turnout

Former President Barack Obama rallied in Newark on Saturday for U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor in an event that focused squarely on President Donald Trump.

The former president spoke in an auditorium full of a few thousand people at Essex County College, echoing Sherrill’s message that she’ll make New Jersey more affordable for working people.

But Obama and other campaign surrogates kept Trump and GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s alignment with him front and center in their remarks.

The stakes of the race were clear in the room. As one of two gubernatorial races in the country on Tuesday, the results will serve as a bellwether heading into the midterms.

“If you meet this moment, if you believe change can happen, you will not just select Mikie Sherrill as your next governor, you will not just put New Jersey on a path to a better future, you will set a glorious example,” Obama said in his nearly 40-minute speech.

Obama, who endorsed Sherrill by way of an ad paid for by her campaign a couple of weeks ago, painted Sherrill as a leader who gives him hope, as Trump’s America has filled him with concern.

Excited supporters chanted for Sherrill and Obama and held signs saying “Let’s land this,” referring to Sherrill’s experience as a Navy pilot, and “Hit the road Jack,” a Ray Charles song she embraced with an influencer in a video on TikTok. At one point, the song blared from speakers, and supporters sang along.

» READ MORE: Mikie Sherrill sponsored the TikTok ban. Now she’s on the app. Here’s why.

Ciattarelli has fully embraced the president, successfully seeking his endorsement and giving him an “A” grade in a recent debate, but he wasn’t always team MAGA. Ciattarelli lost the 2017 GOP primary after emerging as an anti-Trump Republican. He largely avoided the subject as the 2021 GOP nominee, but still kept his distance from Trump. He went on to lose to Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, by three points.

Obama noted this trajectory on Saturday, saying that Ciattarelli’s “strategy is to suck up to the Republicans in Washington" after losing twice.

He argued that Sherrill will make a noticeable impact on New Jerseyans’ pocketbooks, protect consumers, give seniors a safety net, invest in infrastructure and scientific research, provide adequate funding to schools, and ensure government is efficient and transparent.

“You deserve a governor who’s going to think for herself and work for you,” Obama said.

Sherrill joked about New Jersey stereotypes in her speech like not pumping gas and being impatient at red lights.

“Guys, they hate us cuz they ain’t us,” she said, which was met with cheers.

She said the race comes down to “everything” — including “who has a seat at the table.”

Along with her promise to take on landlords “colluding to raise rents” and tackle pharmaceutical prices, she emphasized her campaign promise to freeze utility rate hikes on her first day in office.

“New Jersey, I’m not playing,” Sherrill said. “I’m not writing a strongly worded letter and I’m not starting up a working group. I am not doing a ten-year study. I’m declaring a state of emergency.”

Sherrill has argued that she’ll bring change to the status quo in a campaign that some Democrats have criticized as playing it too safe, while other members of the party feel like Democratic leaders nationally are bringing a spatula to a knife fight.

She called Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which Ciattarelli defends, the “big beautiful betrayal.”

Sherrill won a crowded primary by more than 100,000 votes earlier this year, but she struggled to connect with Black voters compared to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who came in second in the six-way primary.

Baraka won Essex County, home to Newark and one of the handful of counties Sherrill lost. Baraka attacked Sherrill during the primary but ultimately endorsed her in September, appearing on the trail with her.

Baraka spoke passionately to the crowd on Saturday, saying “if you’re not in this fight, you’re nowhere.”

“Somebody asked me today, what am I doing here?” Baraka said. “I said ‘one, I want to be here. Two, I need to be here.’”

Sherrill chose Dale Caldwell, a pastor and the first Black president of Centenary University, as her running mate in a move that was seen as a strategic olive branch to Black voters.

Sherrill has made a concerted effort to reach voters in the majority-Black and Democratic city of Newark in recent weeks, appearing alongside Caldwell, Baraka, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

Caldwell said in a speech on Saturday that he will work with Sherrill to address Black-owned businesses making up a disproportionate amount of state contracts.

He joked that Sherrill picked him because he’s “old” and has “done a lot of things.” But he urged the crowd to take the election seriously.

”I need you to bring your spouse, your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers, everyone to the polls, because this right now is our moment to take our country back."

New Jersey Democrats have a voter registration advantage of more than 850,000 votes over the GOP, but unaffiliated voters also make up a significant chunk of the electorate. Republicans have seen more growth in the state, which voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election but swung significantly toward Trump compared to years past.

Sherrill’s team needs to turn out the Democratic base to ward off GOP gains and unaffiliated voters who could be less reliable. And bringing the first Black president to the city certainly garnered excitement.

Debbie Dunne, 76, a retired educator who lives in Monmouth County, sported a Sherrill shirt and “Obama mama” button.

Dunne, an activist with Jersey Shore Blue, said she feels“very hopeful" that Sherrill will win while acknowledging uncertainty in polls that show a race that is too close for comfort for Democrats. “We need Mikie Sherrill more than we ever needed her before,” she said.

Dunne, a longtime supporter of Obama, said “there’s nobody in this would I would rather see” than him.

“We miss him so much,” she added, joking that if Trump runs again — which he’s previously teased but recently admitted is unconstitutional — Obama should too.

Lingering energy from 2024 filled the room when surrogates like LeRoy Jones Jr., the chair of the New Jersey State Democratic Party, led the chant, “When we fight, we win!” a slogan championed by Vice President Kamala Harris during her unsuccessful presidential campaign.

Obama compared the importance of this election to the 2024 election, noting that he heard people saying that election didn’t matter.

“The last nine months should have cured us of that idea, because the stakes are now clear,” he said. “We don’t need to speculate about the dangers of our democracy. They’re here.”

“I’ll admit it’s worse than even I expected," Obama said.

Ciattarelli and his allies have criticized the Sherrill campaign’s focus on Trump, and they’ve argued that voters care more about issues local to New Jersey. But Sherrill’s surrogates stood by their message.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker said it outright with congressional Democrats by his side, including U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who ran against Sherrill in the primary and has since supported her campaign.

“This election is about defending New Jersey from Donald Trump and his minions,” Booker declared. Whether that argument will resonate with New Jersey voters will become clear on Tuesday.

Sherrill acknowledged her national emphasis in her approximately 20-minute remarks ahead of Obama’s speech.

“As governor, I’m going to bring real change, so you can afford to stay here in this state. But that fight doesn’t, and can’t, end at the border of New Jersey. We’ve got to take on all those hits coming from Trump and Washington, D.C.”

She accused Trump of running a “worldwide extortion racket,” which was met with roars from the audience.

Obama and Sherrill both argued that Trump is making the economy better for the powerful — the fossil fuel industry, well-connected corporations, and billionaires — as working class people struggle in the face of tariffs and cuts to government programs.

“If we want a government that is responsive and honest and competent, that works for the many and not just the few, then we’ve got to get out and vote for it,” Obama said.

Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, also focused on attacking Trump, said Ciattarelli nods along with the president “like a bobblehead,” and emphasized the national importance of the race.

“New Jersey doesn’t follow, New Jersey leads,” he said to a roaring crowd. “New Jersey will lead with Mikie Sherrill when she wins on Tuesday.”