Former President Barack Obama is actively campaigning for Democratic candidates backed by or aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, as the party’s left flank racks up primary wins ahead of November’s midterms.
On Saturday, Obama rallied in Michigan with Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who pushes Medicare for All and other progressive priorities though he does not identify as a DSA member or democratic socialist. Obama also released a campaign video backing Florida Senate nominee Angie Nixon, a declared DSA member running on a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All, universal child care, rent protections and higher taxes on billionaires.
At the Michigan rally, Obama defended the party against charges it has drifted too far left, asking: “What is so radical about wanting everybody to have health care?” The remark drew mockery online, with one X user writing, “I thought someone fixed health care. What happened?” and another replying, “Who’s going to tell him?”
Obama also praised Nixon as someone “willing to stand up again and again for what’s right” and called her a candidate who would make “an outstanding U.S. Senator.”
A Pattern, Not an Exception
Obama has also campaigned with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, whom Republicans have labeled a democratic socialist over his support for universal health care, stronger unions, campaign-finance restrictions and economic populism. Talarico does not use the socialist label himself.
This isn’t new territory for Obama. He endorsed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018 and Jamaal Bowman in 2020, both DSA-backed. He has long praised Nelson Mandela, who had documented ties to South Africa’s Communist Party, and wrote favorably in his memoir “Dreams from My Father” about Frank Marshall Davis, a former Communist Party USA member who mentored him as a young man. During Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 New York City mayoral run, Obama reached out privately to praise the democratic socialist’s campaign and offered himself as a sounding board, stopping short of a formal endorsement.
The outreach comes as the DSA wing notches real wins. Melat Kiros beat longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado. Donavan McKinney knocked out Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan. Socialist-backed candidates also won congressional primaries in New York, building on Mamdani’s mayoral victory last year.
Democrats Defend the Strategy
Democratic strategist Kevin Walling told Fox News Digital that Obama’s influence comes from bridging the party’s factions. “He understands that a Democrat who can win in New York City and a Democrat who can win in Michigan and Ohio have different politics, and the ability to bring those people into the same coalition is exactly what makes him so valuable,” Walling said. He added that Obama “doesn’t ask which wing of the party a nominee comes from. He asks whether they can win.”
Democratic strategist Mally Smith made a similar case, pointing to Obama’s campaigning for candidates like Josh Turek in Iowa alongside El-Sayed in Michigan as evidence of a “big-tent coalition” rather than a leftward lurch. Smith also took a shot at President Trump, saying he’s “stuck” touring red states “because he can’t step foot in any swing state since at-risk Republicans don’t want to be anywhere near him.”
Trump, campaigning in Kansas, called Obama “a rotten president” and dismissed his trip to back El-Sayed. “I love Michigan. I don’t believe that Michigan values are gonna allow this guy to get in. He’s an arrogant guy. But Barack Hussein Obama is going up there to help him campaign,” Trump said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office for comment but did not receive a reply.
