My Remarks at a Newark, NJ Rally in Support of Mikie Sherrill for Governor

Jersey, what’s up?

How’s it going, Newark? Yeah, I’m fired up!

I’m fired up! I’m ready to go!

It is good to be back in Jersey, good to be back. I love you back. I love you!

This is a good looking crowd.

It is good to be back. It is good to be back in Jersey, good to be back in Newark.

I just came from a rally down in Virginia. They were kind of loud, but they definitely got some competition right here.

Mikie Sherrill will get you excited. That’s what happens.

You also may be a little hopped up on that Halloween candy.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: I love you back.

But you have a candidate worth being excited about. You’ve got a future governor to be excited about in Mikie Sherrill.

Yeah, first things first, we’ve got to handle some logistics here.

Just in case you have not heard, if you have not voted yet, tomorrow is the last day of early voting in New Jersey.

And if you can’t vote early, you’ve got to make a plan to do it on Election Day, November 4th. You can go to nj.gov/vote to find out where, if you don’t know. And then you’ve got to get all your friends and your family and that cousin who’s lying on the couch. (Laughter.) Just go, come on, get him off the couch — (laughter) — because in three days, in three days, we’ve got the chance to elect a leader who’s going to help build a better, stronger, brighter future for New Jersey.

And Lord knows, we need that light. We need that inspiration because let’s face it, our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now.

It’s hard to know where to start, because every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and carelessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain old craziness.

We’ve got a president who thinks it’s okay to use the Justice Department, just for example, to use the Justice Department to go after his political opponents.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Wait, wait, wait, here’s a rule. You can’t boo. You’ve got to vote. They won’t hear you if you’re booing, but they’ll hear your vote.

You’ve got a president who replaces career prosecutors with loyalists who will do his bidding, and now he’s telling them to hand over millions of taxpayer dollars, dollars that he had to pay in expenses for previously violating the law.

We’ve got a commander in chief who has fired decorated military officers because he thinks they might be more loyal to the Constitution than they are to him.

Don’t boo.

He’s deployed the National Guard in American cities and claimed to be stopping crime waves that don’t actually exist. We’ve got masked ICE agents pulling in unmarked vans and grabbing people off the streets, including U.S. citizens –

AUDIENCE: Boo!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Don’t boo, vote!

Grabbing them on the suspicion that they don’t look like real Americans.

We’ve got a health and human services secretary who opposes proven science and then peddles quack medicine. We’ve got a top White House aide who calls Democrats, the whole Democratic Party, “domestic extremists.” And then we’ve got some poor Labor economist who got fired for accurately reporting bad job numbers that Trump didn’t like.

It’s like every day is Halloween, except it’s all tricks and no treats. (Laughter.)

And here’s the thing, here’s the thing, New Jersey. It’s not as if we did not see some of this coming. I mean, I’ll admit it’s worse than even I expected, but I did warn y’all. I did.

And you know what? Donald Trump warned you, too. He told you what he was like and how he was going to act.

But the fact is, the truth is, right here in New Jersey and all across the country, there were plenty of people who voted for Trump and the Republicans anyway, not because they wanted to give up the right to free speech or because they wanted to see our public health systems torn down, but because they were, understandably, frustrated with inflation and high gas prices and the difficulty of affording a home. And they were worried about their children’s futures.

Now, nine months later, you’ve got to ask yourself, has any of that gotten better?

AUDIENCE: No!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Is the economy working better for you?

AUDIENCE: No!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Because it sure has gotten better for Trump and his family. Since he’s been in office, the family crypto business and other ventures have made hundreds of millions of dollars and getting investment from foreign nationals and rich folks looking to stay in the President’s good graces.

The economy has been really good for some of Trump’s billionaire friends, and it’s been good for some finance bros and well-connected corporations who’ve seen their tax bill go down and don’t have to worry about all those pesky regulators anymore. But for ordinary families, for you, your neighbors, your friends, costs have not gone down. They have gone up, partly because of Trump’s shambolic tariff policy.

Young people, they’re not having an easier time. Young people trying to get a start in life are having a tougher time than ever finding a job. Entry level hiring is down 16% from last year.

Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have lost their jobs to pay for those billionaire tax cuts. We’re talking about people who dedicated their lives to public service and help make this country work. Meanwhile, the government is shut down, which means small business loans are suspended and help for vulnerable people is delayed.

Health care premiums for millions of people are about to double or even triple next year. And the Republicans who are running Congress right now, they’re not even pretending to try to solve the problem. They’re not even going to work. They haven’t been in session. They’re not showing up.

And as for the President, I mean, in fairness, he has been focused on some critical issues, like paving over the Rose Garden so folks don’t get mud on their shoes, and building a $300 million ballroom.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Do not boo! Do not boo, vote! And anyway, I don’t know why y’all complaining. If you can’t afford to visit a doctor, don’t worry, he’ll save you a dance. (Laughter.) And if you don’t get an invitation to the next White House shindig, you can always watch the festivities on Trump’s live feed on Truth Social.

Look, the point is there is absolutely no evidence that Republican policies have made life better for the people in New Jersey. They have devoted enormous energy to entrenching themselves in power, punishing their enemies, enriching their friends, silencing their critics. They put on a big show of deporting people and targeting transgender folks. They never miss a chance to scapegoat minorities and blame DEI for every problem under the sun.

You got a flat tire? Must be DEI. (Laughter.)

Your wife kicked you out? DEI. Who knew? (Laughter.)

But what they haven’t done is help you. They haven’t put forward serious proposals to lower housing costs or make groceries more affordable. They haven’t improved our schools or made health care more accessible or shortened your commute, or prepared young people for a future where AI might take their jobs. All the nonsense that we see on the news every day, the over-the-top rhetoric, the fabricated conspiracies, the weird videos of a U.S. president with a crown on his head flying a fighter jet and dumping poop on American citizens.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Don’t boo! No, no, no, wait, wait! That’s not even worth booing about, because all of that is a distraction. All of it is designed to distract you from the fact that your situation, your life, has not gotten better. They do it so you won’t notice that at the same time that they’re helping the wealthiest, most powerful people in the country consolidate more wealth and more power, your bills are still going up.

You’re waiting longer at airports because there aren’t enough air traffic controllers. The program that helps your kid with special needs just got gutted. They are hoping you don’t notice that.

But the good news, the good news, good news, is there something you can do about it, New Jersey, right here, right now –

Because you’ve got a candidate for governor who’s a proven fighter, who’s got a track record of getting stuff done, somebody who sees you and knows your struggles and will work for you every single day.

New Jersey, it’s time to point America in a better direction by electing Mikie Sherrill as your next governor.

AUDIENCE: Mikie! Mikie! Mikie! Mikie! Mikie!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Now, I’ve met a lot of tough people in my life. I was watching Mikie backstage, and there were some people from the security detail for all kinds of folks. You can see they’ve been in the weight room. (Laughter.) It was all just, I don’t know how they got in that suit. It’s not a problem I have. My guns slip in there pretty easily. (Laughter.)

I’ve met a lot of tough people in my life. I don’t know many people — we need a medic here. They’ll be coming. Give him or her a little space, probably just a little dehydrated.

Everybody, bend your knees. Bend your knees. Yeah, you can’t stand still and not have any water. All right, we’ve got some medics coming.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Obama, I love you!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: I love you, but hold on! I heard ya, girl! Just settle down. I’m here to talk to everybody, not just you. (Laughter.) I mean, you look cute, but I am married. Michelle is fine, too.

A medic is coming.

Listen, I don’t know many people who started their careers as a Navy helicopter pilot –

– then went to law school, then became a federal prosecutor, keeping communities safe, and she’s doing this while raising four kids. And then because, apparently that was a little bit too easy, she decides to run for Congress.

I get tired just thinking about it, but I do know that it makes her the kind of leader who understands the mission, who knows who she is supposed to serve, who doesn’t have a lot of time for excuses. And that is exactly what New Jersey needs right now.

Mikie doesn’t just say the right thing. As your governor, she will do the right thing.

She understands that government can make a difference in people’s lives by educating our kids for the jobs of the future, keeping our air and water clean, protecting consumers from fraud and dangerous products, providing a safety net for seniors and folks with disabilities, investing in the infrastructure and scientific research that drives economic growth.

She knows what government can do, but she also knows that good intentions alone are not enough, that we can’t afford to waste taxpayer dollars on programs that don’t work, and that instead of simply tearing down government, it’s her job to make it work better for you.

You’ve heard Mikie talk about bringing costs down for working families. Remember how Donald Trump declared a, quote, unquote, state of emergency so he could put tariffs in place that are now driving up costs for you, a tax on every family in America?

On her first day as governor, Mikie will declare a state of emergency to bring costs down, starting with utilities.

She is going to create more energy right here in New Jersey, because more supply means lower bills. She’s going to take on the state’s grid operator to stop them from driving up costs. That will affect your pocketbook in a good way.

As a mom of four kids, Mikie knows what parents see every day, so she’s got plans to put more physical and mental health resources in schools.

She’s going to make tech companies do more to keep kids safe online. She’ll invest in high-impact tutoring to get kids who are struggling back on track. And she’s going to make sure you can see exactly where your tax dollars are going and whether the programs you are helping to fund actually do what they’re supposed to do.

Mikie will work with anyone, if it helps the people in New Jersey. And she will listen to everyone, too, whether they voted for her or not, because she knows that if we want to make progress on the things we care about, we have to be able to disagree without calling each other nasty names or demonizing each other.

At a time when our politics feels just so broken, we need leaders like Mikie, public servants who are in it for the right reasons, who are focused on the future and who will always stay connected to the people that they were elected to serve.

Now, her opponent? Not so much.

Mikie’s opponent has now run for governor three times in a row. I mean, I believe in persistence, but at a certain point, so three times in a row. Other two times, he lost. This time, his strategy is to suck up to the Republicans in Washington. Donald Trump called Mikie’s opponent 100% MAGA, not a great endorsement.

When he was asked to give the Trump administration a grade, Mikie’s opponent said they deserved an A.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Don’t boo.

AUDIENCE: Vote!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: I mean, I know there’s been great inflation, but really, an A? This is the best we could do. I mean, these are the same folks who put secret war plans in a group chat. (Laughter.) You don’t think there’s anything they could be doing better, no room for improvement?

Jersey, we don’t need a governor who puts party and ideology ahead of the people that elected that governor. You deserve a governor who is going to think for herself and work for you, a governor who will create jobs and not cut them –

A governor who will lower costs and not raise them, a governor who will bring people together and not divide them, a governor who will do right for the people of New Jersey, no matter what anybody in Washington thinks.

You deserve a governor like Mikie Sherrill!

AUDIENCE: Mikie! Mikie! Mikie! Mikie! Mikie!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: I’m going to bring it down a little bit, just for a second.

Hold on a second. I hear you, but I want to focus. I want to kind of wrap up with something that I want everybody to think about.

At the end of the day, at the end of the day, what this election is about, what politics in a democracy is always about, is values. What do we care about? What do we believe? What do we prioritize? What are our core convictions?

A lot of people have asked me lately whether I am surprised at the direction the country has taken. And even though I’m the hope and change guy — (laughter) — I want to be honest with them. And so, I admit to them that I have cause for deep concern. I admit to them that I’m worried about how quickly basic democratic rules and norms have been weakened.

I’m worried about how willing Republicans in Congress have been to abdicate their role as members of a co-equal branch of government, and how they refuse to buck the president, even when they know he is out of line, even when a lot of them privately admit that power is being abused in ways that will hurt their constituents, that will hurt the country.

I worry about a Supreme Court that so far, at least, has shown no willingness to check this administration’s excess, even when those actions break all legal precedent and seem to defy the bedrock principle that no one’s above the law.

I worry about the growing concentration of economic power in the country with just a handful of mega-billionaires and companies controlling what we see and what we hear. And I worry about how much that economic power distorts our political process. I worry about how readily, not just business leaders, but others with influence, and law firms and universities have been willing to bend the knee to this president’s autocratic impulses to avoid retribution or protect profits or just to avoid controversy.

But what I also tell people who ask, what I remind them, is that this contest of ideas, it’s not new. America has always had competing stories about who we are and what this nation stands for.

The first story says “We the People” means just some of us, that in order to qualify, you’ve got to be the right color. You’ve got to come from the right family. You’ve got to worship the right way. It says that even though we got rid of a king, that was the whole point of the revolution, there’s still a caste system in America, a pecking order of who makes decisions and who obeys, who gets opportunity and who is obliged to serve.

And that story is policed by fear and by force, and it tries to convince people that for their group to win, another group has got to lose. It tries to convince people that if somebody doesn’t look like you, or doesn’t think like you or practice religion exactly the way you do, they must be a threat to your way of life and need to be put in their place.

That’s how Donald Trump thinks about America, that that’s what Make America Great Again means, putting people like him back in charge, even when they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

That’s one story, and that story has been part of America. You can pretend it hasn’t been, but you can try to whitewash school books and go to national parks and say, let’s get rid of that, that sign that says Native Americans used to live here. You can do all that, but that story has always been part of America.

And that story isn’t even new. It isn’t even uniquely American. For most of human history, it’s the way society worked. There was a hierarchy, and there were lords, and then there were peasants. And some people had everything and some people had nothing. There are all kinds of countries that still operate that way. And for a long time, that story of caste and privilege and concentrated power was the law of the land in America.

For decades, if you looked like me, you were property. For decades, if you were a woman or a white man who did not own property, you couldn’t vote. For decades, if you were an Irishman or an Italian immigrant and you tried to apply for a job, “we’re not hiring.” For decades, if you were Jewish or Asian, “don’t bother applying to this school.” If you were Native American, they didn’t even talk about you, even though you were here first.

But here’s the thing, New Jersey. From the very start, there was another story born of this nation’s true revolutionary spirit. And that story says “We the People” means what it says, that all of us are included, that we are not subjects, we are citizens — defined not by race or religion or gender or sexual orientation, but by our commitment to a common creed and a willingness to accept, not just the privileges but responsibilities that come with citizenship.

That’s what made the American experiment unique, not just the size of our economy, not just our military might. It was that idea that you could get people from every corner of the globe, and they could come here and decide, “I pledge allegiance to this flag. I will defend this country. I will make a life for myself here, and we could all get along.” That’s what made America special.

And through generations of struggle and sacrifice, through the faith of abolitionists, the struggle of suffragists, through a civil war and Civil Rights protest, through union organizing drives, through government reform initiatives, through investment in public education, year by year, decade by decade, we moved closer to those founding ideals. And in the process, we inspired the world.

That’s the story I believe in, New Jersey, an America in which we all deserve equal protection under the law and no one is above it — An America where every child has a chance at a good education, and anybody who is willing to work and find a job or start a business can make a decent living, an America where we don’t fear each other, but we look out for one another, and we find ways to work together.

And if we want that story to continue, then we need leaders who believe in it, too — Leaders who will tell the truth and take responsibility, leaders who will tackle hard problems and bring people together instead of dividing them, leaders who won’t serve big bosses in Washington or big corporate donors, but instead will serve the people who put them there.

New Jersey, we need leaders like Mikie Sherrill.

AUDIENCE: Mikie! Mikie! Mikie!

PRES. BARACK OBAMA: So, yes, I am still hopeful. Yes, I still believe our best days are ahead of us.

But here’s the thing, New Jersey: Even somebody as tough and talented as Mikie can’t make it happen alone, because all of us, all of us are being tested right now. Our convictions are being tested.

Donald Trump and the Republicans, they want you to think that things can only come from on high, that a few people in power make decisions. The rest of us just have to live with the consequences. But when you look at the history of America, real change has always come from the bottom up — from ordinary folks who believe we can do better and join together to make change happen.

It’s up to all of us, as citizens, to stand up for the values that we profess. If we want a country that believes in free speech and fair elections and rule of law, then we can’t just leave it to somebody else. We have to fight for those things, even when it’s hard.

If we’re opposed to violence against people we disagree with or look a certain way, then we have to speak out when those values are violated. If we believe in honesty and hard work and treating other people the way we want to be treated, we have to model it in our own lives, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our neighborhoods and our places of worship. And 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 there and vote for it.

New Jersey, I remember just a year ago, just a year ago, I remember talking to folks who would tell me, this election doesn’t matter. These are simple, educated, bright people. They say, “Whoever the next president ends up being, it’s not going to affect me.” That’s what they would say.

If nothing else, the last nine months should have cured us of that idea, because the stakes are now clear. We don’t need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy. They’re here. We don’t need to wonder if harms is going to be done to vulnerable people, or whether the public conversation will become meaner and coarser. We’re witnessing it.

Elections matter, and they matter to you, and they matter to your family.

We are being tested, and what is remarkable about America is that it gives us the power, as citizens, to change this country. We all have more power than we sometimes imagine. We’ve just got to use it.

So, if you believe in that better story of America, you cannot sit this one out. As citizens, you have to vote for leaders like Mikie who believe in that story too, leaders who care about your freedom, leaders who will fight for your rights, leaders who will go work every day to make your life a little bit better.

Go get your friends, grab your family members, tell them to go out and vote, because if you do that New Jersey, if you meet this moment, if you believe change can happen, you will not just elect Mikie Sherrill your next governor, you will not just put New Jersey on a path to a brighter future, you will set a glorious example for this nation. Let’s get to work.

Thank you, Newark. God bless you. God bless America!