The former president rallied a crowd of thousands at Cleveland Public Auditorium on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in his first rally of the midterm campaign, stumping for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Supporters waited hours in lines that wrapped around several downtown blocks to fill the hall, which holds about 10,000.
Much of Obama’s afternoon address circled back to the renovations: the ballroom construction, the gold accents spreading through the building, the paved-over Rose Garden, a helicopter pad on the South Lawn. He asked the crowd what, exactly, was behind all the gold.
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said, as the room erupted.
What Actually Got Drained in Washington
From there he worked through Trump’s promises. Remember draining the swamp, Obama asked the crowd, before answering himself: the only thing drained was the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, after a no-bid contract left it a mess. A president this focused on home improvement, he suggested, belongs on HGTV.
Obama cast Trump as an agent of “chaos and cruelty” and a man of broken promises, pointing to foreign wars and grocery prices, and he pinned rising costs on the administration’s tariffs and the war with Iran. He also accused Trump of using the Oval Office to enrich himself and his family.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew the next volley. Obama mocked Hegseth’s fixation on masculinity, jawlines and testosterone levels, along with his stated desire to livestream executions, and asked how much time the defense secretary spends in front of a mirror. “These are not serious people!” he said.
The Ad Ohio Republicans Want Pulled
The sharpest stretch of the speech was not a joke. Obama condemned an attack ad from Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who calls her daughter a liar. Obama said Ramaswamy has shown there is no line he will not cross, noted that Acton has spoken openly about a childhood that included abuse, neglect and homelessness, and said the public should expect a basic decency from its officials — adding that no office is worth stooping that low.
Trump defended the ad as he voted in West Palm Beach on Saturday, Oct. 24, calling the mother’s account the best reference a voter could ask for. Vice President JD Vance has also backed the spot, which he and Trump have said refers to Acton’s campaign rather than her childhood. Ohio Republican leaders, including Gov. Mike DeWine, have called for it to be taken down. Ramaswamy initially stood by it, then put out a shorter version Saturday, Oct. 24; his campaign responded to the rally by saying he offers lower property taxes, lower costs and safer streets.
Acton, who served as Ohio’s health director during the COVID-19 pandemic, took the stage and told supporters her opponent had chosen to exploit her childhood to rescue a struggling campaign, and that it would not work. “Decency still matters,” Acton said.
Brown kept his pitch on wages, telling the crowd that Ohioans are working harder than ever while their pay fails to keep pace. Billionaires, trillionaires and shady corporations, he said, all know Husted can be bought.
Obama’s Road Runs Through Ohio
Ohio has drifted Republican since Trump’s rise, but both statewide races are rated toss-ups, and Democrats are hungry to win the governorship for the first time in 20 years. Polls in the Senate race have tightened, with Brown slightly ahead of Husted, who was appointed in 2025 to the seat Vance gave up for the vice presidency. Obama told the crowd those two contests hand Democrats a direct route to stopping Trump’s agenda over the next two years, and argued the election is the last, best chance to rein in what he called the administration’s foolishness. Voters are stuck with two more years of this White House, he said, but not with a Congress and governors he described as spineless enablers.
Obama, 65, has helped raise more than $15 million for midterm races, according to his office, and is concentrating this fall on contests where he thinks he can move Democrats and persuadable voters. He joined hands on stage with Brown and Acton when the Cleveland rally ended, then headed to Detroit that night to campaign for Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Trump spent the same day rallying Republicans in Georgia.