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Former president Barack Obama is making his first campaign foray of 2017, agreeing to stump for Democrat Ralph Northam in his bid to be Virginia’s next governor.
David Turner, a spokesman for Northam, said the former president agreed this week to hit the campaign trail for Northam, but said he wouldn’t “go into any further detail about the private conversations that Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam had with President Barack Obama.”
An aide to Obama confirmed that the former president agreed to campaign for Northam during a congratulatory call, although no events have been planned.
The HuffPost first reported Obama’s plans to campaign for Northam.
The Virginia governor’s race, one of just two gubernatorial contests this year, is shaping up as the next high-profile electoral contest in the era of President Trump. It follows a couple of Democratic losses in high-profile special elections to fill congressional vacancies, including the House race in Georgia earlier this week that became the most expensive in U.S. history.
Obama, who carried Virginia in 2008 and 2012, could help Northam improve his support among younger voters and solidify his strong backing from African American voters. Northam’s strongholds in the Democratic primary were in the “Urban Crescent,” the heavily populated areas of northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/obama-returning-to-campaign-trail-to-stump-for-northam-in-va-governors-race/2017/06/22/7d64456e-5793-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html?utm_term=.3d1be1cdd507