Barack Obama has hit the campaign train for Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat candidate for Virginia governor, tearing into his GOP opponent as the race enters its final days with polls in a dead heat.
Obama and McAuliffe, who served as the state's governor from 2014 to 2018, spoke before a cheering crowd at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond with just 10 days to go before the November 2 election, the most closely watched race of the year.
The election pitting McAuliffe against Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin has major implications for President Joe Biden's agenda as well as next year's midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress.
Obama told the crowd the Virginia election represented a national 'turning point,' where Americans could either become more embattled in the 'divisive' politics of the Trump era, or 'pull together' to 'solve big problems.'
Barack Obama has hit the campaign train for Terry McAuliffe (with him above), the Democrat candidate for Virginia governor, tearing into his GOP opponent as the race enters its final days with polls in a dead heat
Former President Barack Obama, right, gives an elbow bump to Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe during a rally in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday
Obama told the crowd the Virginia election represented a national 'turning point,' where Americans could either become more embattled in the 'divisive' politics of the Trump era, or 'pull together' to 'solve big problems'
Obama accused Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin (above) of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called 'lies and conspiracy theories' about widespread voting fraud in the 2020 elections
'I believe you, right here in Virginia, are going to show the rest of the country and the world that we're not going to indulge in our worst instincts,' Obama said.
'We're not going to go back to the chaos that did so much damage. We're going to move forward with people like Terry leading the way.'
Obama accused Youngkin of portraying himself as a friendly everyman while encouraging what Obama called 'lies and conspiracy theories' about widespread voting fraud in the 2020 elections.
Donald Trump has continued to push false claims that he was cheated out of winning the election, which fueled the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
'As far as I can tell, the big message of Terry's opponent is that he's a regular guy because he wears a fleece. And he's accusing schools of brainwashing our kids,' Obama said.
'He's also said he wanted to audit the voting machines used in the last presidential election again. Really? Encouraging the lies and conspiracy theories that we've had to live through all this time? And yeah, we're supposed to believe he's going to stand up for our democracy?'
Obama said of Younkin: 'Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesn´t believe it but he is willing to go along with it, to say or do anything to get elected. And maybe that's worse ... because that says something about character.'
'We're not going to go back to the chaos that did so much damage. We're going to move forward with people like Terry leading the way,' said Obama
Obama said of Younkin: 'Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he doesn´t believe it but he is willing to go along with it, to say or do anything to get elected'
The election pitting McAuliffe against Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin has major implications for President Joe Biden's agenda and next year's midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress
'As far as I can tell, the big message of Terry's opponent is that he's a regular guy because he wears a fleece. And he's accusing schools of brainwashing our kids,' Obama said on Youngkin (above)
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Youngkin, a former private equity executive and a first-time candidate, initially made 'election integrity' the centerpiece of his campaign and refused for months to say whether Biden was legitimately elected. He has since said that Biden was, and that there was not widespread fraud in last year's elections.
Asked for comment, a Youngkin campaign spokesman called Obama's remarks 'false statements' and accused the media of 'indulging the fantasies of the Terry and the left because they can't run on their failed record and radical vision for the future.'
The Youngkin campaign has said election security is a bipartisan concern and has tried to draw a comparison between the false claims of fraud today and the 2000 presidential election, when a Supreme Court ruling decided the winner and McAuliffe blasted the decision and said the election had been stolen.
Obama described McAuliffe, who was term limited from running for a consecutive term in 2018, as an experienced, steady hand and told a crowd of about 2,000 people the election would 'show the country and the world that we're not going to indulge in our worst instincts.'
The former president said he understood voters are worn down, both from the country's divisive politics and the strain of the pandemic. But he said there's too much at stake to not cast a ballot.
'I'm here today because I believe Virginia will make the right choice. I believe America, ultimately, will make the right choice,' Obama told the crowd of a few hundred cheering supporters.
'I believe you right here in Virginia are going to show the rest of the country, and the world, that we're not going to indulge in our worst instincts. We're not going to go back to the past that did so much damage, we're going to move forward with people like Terry leading the way.'
'We don´t have time to be tired. What is required is sustained effort,' he said.
Asked for comment, a Youngkin campaign spokesman called Obama's remarks 'false statements' and accused the media of 'indulging the fantasies of the Terry and the left because they can't run on their failed record and radical vision for the future'
