Obama rallies Senate Democrats with fundraiser weeks before midterms

Former President Barack Obama took the stage at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser on a Wednesday night in early October, weeks before the midterm elections, to make the case for why control of the Senate mattered. He sat down with Delaware Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, the vice chair of the DSCC, for a conversation centered on Democrats' push to flip the chamber from Republican hands.

Blunt Rochester spoke to CBS News about what she saw in Obama's presence at the event. She described him as offering both clear-eyed realism and practical optimism—qualities she believed Democrats needed as they headed into the final stretch of the campaign. His participation, she suggested, underscored just how significant this election had become.

The political landscape had shifted noticeably in Democrats' favor over recent weeks. Races in states long considered safely Republican—Texas and Ohio among them—had tightened into genuine toss-ups. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, speaking to CBS News the previous month, captured the mood among his caucus. He acknowledged the danger of overconfidence but pointed to a consistent pattern emerging across the country: voters were exhausted by Trump and frustrated with Republicans in the Senate who had aligned with him. The divisions between the parties had become stark enough, Schumer argued, that Democrats found themselves on the precipice of victory. To take control of the chamber, they needed to flip four seats. Republicans currently held a 53-47 majority.

Republicans were not conceding the fight. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters that despite the political noise surrounding them, his party had a clear argument to make. If Republicans could stay disciplined, talk about their record of accomplishment, and lay out their vision for the future, they believed they still had a viable path to holding the Senate.

Michigan emerged as one of the most consequential battlegrounds. Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, was retiring, and both parties viewed the seat as winnable. Polling showed the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, holding a narrow lead over his Republican opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers. Obama planned to campaign with El-Sayed and other Democratic candidates in Michigan later that month, targeting the state as a place where his involvement could persuade voters who remained undecided.

Beyond the fundraiser, Obama had recorded two dozen campaign advertisements for Senate and gubernatorial candidates across the country. His strategy, according to someone familiar with his thinking, was surgical: he would focus his efforts where he could actually move the needle with Democrats and persuadable voters. At a second Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Obama had pressed the party to develop serious plans around artificial intelligence—a topic he believed deserved far more attention than it was receiving. He outlined what he would do if he were running for president: establish concrete plans for AI safety, address the risk of children being harmed by the technology, and think through the economic consequences in granular detail. Job displacement from AI automation would hit certain communities harder than others, he argued, and Democrats needed to show they understood that and had answers.

Jeffries told CBS News he remained in regular contact with both Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris, and he expected both to remain actively engaged through Election Day. The House Minority Leader, positioned to become the first Black speaker if Democrats won control of the chamber, predicted his party would take back the majority. "It's an all-hands-on-deck effort," he said.