Obama, in the Midwest, attacks the ‘cruelty’ and unfairness of Trump and his allies in the midterm campaign

DETROIT (AP) — Former President Barack Obama on Saturday attacked what he described as cruelty and injustice coming from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, and one of the nation’s ugliest Midwesterners stepped in as he worked to rally Democratic voters in two Midwestern battlegrounds.

First in Ohio, Obama targeted Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who doubled down on an ad campaign featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton. Trump and Vice President JD Vance also defended the ad, even as Republican leaders across Ohio, including Governor Mike DeWine, called for its removal.

“In the last few days, we have seen that there is no line that he will not cross, no depth that he will not sink,” Obama said of Ramaswamy, noting that Acton “spoke movingly about her painful childhood and all that she experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.”

Later in Michigan, Obama blasted critics of Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, suggesting they were using his name or his faith to tear him down.

“We’ve seen this movie before. I acted in it,” Obama told a packed high school gym in Detroit. “I have a long-standing birth certificate to prove it.”

“Abdul is as Michigan as it gets,” he added.

WATCH: Trump defends Ramaswamy’s attack ad against Acton amid bipartisan criticism

Obama, 65, remains the Democratic Party’s best motivator nearly a decade after leaving the White House. And he’s taking his star power to the streets in the final days of the midterm elections, which will help determine the balance of power in American politics on November 3.

Trump cast his own ballot on Saturday in Florida, where he defended the Ramaswamy ad that emerged as a national flashpoint a little more than a week before Election Day.

“The mother said Amy Acton is a liar, and she’s no good,” Trump said. “And you know what? I don’t think you could get a better reference than that.”

The Ramaswamy campaign video shows Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating that she has mental health issues.

Acton, Ohio’s COVID-19-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was charged with rape with Acton.

The abuse allegedly occurred from December 1976 to April 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to show up for a court appearance and became a fugitive. Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in 2004.

Before Obama appeared, Acton spoke as if addressing Ramaswamy directly.

“My opponent has chosen to deliberately exploit my childhood to save his impeachment campaign, but it won’t work,” she said. “Decency is still important.” She added: “Mr Ramaswamy, you are not only out of touch, you are out for yourself and you are a danger to my state. Apparently there is no thief you will not bend.”

Although Ohio has become more reliably Republican, it has been a hotly contested battleground this year. Trump and Vance have both visited the state in recent weeks to drum up support for Sen. Jon Husted and Ramaswamy. And the controversy over Ramaswamy’s ad raised the already high temperature.

Michigan, too, is a critical state this midterm season, with high-stakes contests for Senate and governor.

While Obama addressed both races, he offered an impassioned defense of El-Sayed, a former public health official who ran against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican is running.

The former president pushed back against those who call El-Sayed a radical, declaring that “Abdul shares my values.” He also acknowledged that El-Sayed was critical of him after his 2012 re-election for not fulfilling all of his progressive campaign promises.

El-Sayed wrote that Obama “wasn’t the right choice — he just wasn’t the wrong one.”

“Some of these people are saying, well, you know, Abdul didn’t like some of the things you did as president,” Obama said in Detroit, wearing a blue shirt with no tie, his sleeves rolled up. “You know who disagrees with everything I do? Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama, about five times a day.”

READ MORE: In latest Michigan Senate debate, El-Sayed and Rogers question each other’s loyalty

Democrats hoped that Obama’s appearance in the city, which is three-quarters black, could boost support for El-Sayed among black voters. In the primary, his opponent Haley Stevens won Wayne County, which includes Detroit, by about 6 percentage points. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the first black and South Asian vice president, campaigned for El-Sayed in September.

Cheryl McWilliams, 67, said Obama’s speech “gets you going to vote,” and she hopes to see a high turnout in the midterms.

“If Detroit doesn’t vote, whoever runs loses, period,” McWilliams said. “I just hope we can reach voters who don’t vote. They think it doesn’t matter, and it does.”

Chunnika Hodges, who lives in Detroit and canvassed for El-Sayed on Saturday, said some black voters are supporting Rogers because they feel nothing has changed after years of voting for Democrats. Some are also wary of El-Sayed because of his progressive politics, Hodges said.

“We don’t stick to conservatives, but we’ve seen that in our community,” Hodges said. “There are conservative blacks, conservative Democrats.”

While Obama spoke to Democratic candidates in Ohio and Michigan, he also spoke at length about Trump.

He accused the Republican president and his family of rampant corruption and called out his inability to cut costs, noting that Trump had instead focused on building a new White House ballroom and helipad on the South Lawn.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on renovating the home,” Obama said. “He should be on HGTV.” He continued, “There’s gold everywhere. He made the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

The former Democratic president acknowledged that the nation has Trump for two more years until his term ends. But voters are not siding with Trump’s allies, he said.

“We are not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who deal with lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference to working people,” Obama said. “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence … you get a chance to say enough is enough.”

Obama will host a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump, campaigning in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday evening with his Republican rivals, made several references to Obama’s Michigan event, insisting “the place was empty.”

People reported from New York. AP writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed. GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on covered issues.