Obama hopes to boost Democrats in Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA — Barack Obama turned his political attention Friday to Pennsylvania.
The former president campaigned in Philadelphia with two leading Democrats running for re-election, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
At a campaign rally at the Dell Music Center in Philadelphia, Obama implored Pennsylvanians to vote in November because the election was more consequential than any he could remember.
During the speech Obama made no mention of his successor in the White House by name, but urged voters of all parties — not just Democrats — to vote to restore honesty, decency and lawfulness to government.
Casey’s Republican opponent,
Rep. Lou Barletta, said Obama’s visit will stir up GOP voters.
Obama will “energize those blue-collar Democrats who worried about their jobs under Obama and went out to vote for Donald Trump,” Barletta said.
“On President Obama’s watch, we had our slowest economic recovery since World War II and Democrats lost more than 1,000 seats,” said Michael Ahrens, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “If he wants to help energize Republicans this election too, we’re happy to have him.”
Obama has endorsed more than 80 Democrats in more than a dozen states. A second round of endorsements is expected this fall.