The former president had traveled to Richmond, in the conservative south of the state, to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe, 64, the candidate for Virginia’s governor, and Mr. McAuliffe running with Republican pro-Trump candidate Glenn Yongkin, 54. November 2 poll.

In front of a few hundred enthusiastic young activists, assembled at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, he said Mr. Yogkin would cut teaching positions, limit access to abortion and support Donald Trump’s claims. for him.

As far as I know, the main message from Terry’s opponent is that he’s a man like everyone else because he wears fleece. Schools are accused of brainwashing our children, He said. He also said he wanted to check the voting machines used in the last ballot. […] Are we supposed to believe that he will defend our democracy?

Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points in 2020 and Republicans haven’t won an election in that state since 2009, but Terry McAuliffe’s lead in the polls has fizzled out over the weeks, and she’s now on the margins of error.

Mr. Obama, who remains the most popular Democrat in the United States five years after leaving the White House, wanted to rally the African American electorate, a major constituency in this southern state, especially in the Richmond area where it is one of the most important. Symbols of the country’s slavery past, a statue of Confederate General Robert Lee, was removed just last month.

Grateful to understand why we can be tiring In politics, he remembers that during his first presidential campaign that brought him to the White House in 2008, he met an African-American voter of 106 years ago who had rallied for him. And I said to myself, If you’re not tired, I don’t have the right to be tired, he added.

C John Lewis [figure de la lutte pour les droits civiques décédée en 2020, NDLR] We are not tired, we are not allowed to get tiredRing under the applause.

I’m here in Virginia because I think Virginia will make the right decision in the end, he completed.

I think here in Virginia you will show to the rest of the country, and to the world, that we will not indulge our worst instincts. We’re not going back to the past that was so painful, we’re going to move forward with people like Terry to guide us.

Important local elections

Before Mr. Obama, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party, Stacey Abrams, traveled to Virginia to campaign for Mr. McAuliffe. The US president himself is expected to be there next week.

A McAuliffe victory would give impetus to the massive investment program that the left wing of the Democratic Party is seeking to push through Congress. The failure could lead to more caution on the moderate wing of the party, which is still reluctant to agree to spending about $3 trillion.

Yongkin focused on schools, campaigning against the mandatory mask that Donald Trump voters hate. So far, he has carefully avoided supporting the former president’s claims that the elections were stolen from him.

Republican Glenn Yongkin has focused on schools, campaigning against the mandatory mask that Donald Trump voters hate.

Photo: Getty Images/Zach Gibson

Mr. Trump has not visited Virginia. On October 13, he actually joined a pro-Yongkin campaign meeting attended by his former advisor Steve Bannon.

McAuliffe, who picked up the microphone before Obama, pledged to work with Republicans responsible To improve the situation in Virginia.

I’ll work with you, but today let me tell you one thing: Glenn Yongkin is not a sane Republican. To me, it’s Donald Trump in beige pants, He said. Do we want a Donald Trump puppet as governor? No, we don’t want that!