Obama hits campaign trail seeking a second term for New Jersey governor

Former US president Barack Obama was making a campaign appearance yesterday with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who is facing a challenge from Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

Mr Obama also campaigned for Mr Murphy in 2017, during a time when voter fraud hysteria and fake news had many would-be voters disenfranchised.

“We are rejecting a politics of fear,” Mr Obama said at the time.

“Some of the politics we see now, we thought we put that to bed. This is the 21st century, not the 19th century.”

The Democratic incumbent is leading Mr Ciattarelli by 50 per cent to 41 per cent, a Stockton University poll found. But the Democrats are not resting on their laurels.

Jill Biden, the first lady, campaigned there on October 15, saying “this election will set a course for a year from now” during her first political trip of her husband’s presidency.

Speaking at an early voting rally at Middlesex College in Edison, New Jersey, Ms Biden clapped on stage to It’s My Life by New Jersey musician and Biden supporter Jon Bon Jovi.

“We can’t get complacent. We have to get to work,” Ms Biden said.

The loudest applause of the event came when Ms Biden joked: “Heck, today’s Friday. So go grab a beer and go vote.”

Mr Obama was also campaigning for Terry McAuliffe yesterday in the Virginia gubernatorial election.

Polls show almost a dead heat between Mr McAuliffe and his Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin.

In Virginia especially, which President Joe Biden won by a comfortable 10 per cent last year, a defeat in the governor’s race could spell trouble for Democrats in the 2022 midterms, when control of Congress is at risk of flipping to Republicans.

Mr Biden’s approval ratings have fallen to some of the lowest levels of his White House tenure amid congressional fights over infrastructure and voting rights.