This is either a good sign for Democrats hoping to retain control of the House and Senate after the 2022 midterm elections, or a very bad one.
Former President Barack Obama is reportedly entering the fray with just over 10 weeks before Election Day.
According to a report from Virginia-based news outlet Axios, the former president will “jumping full-on into the midterms” by co-headlining a fundraiser on Sept. 8, with ticket prices set at $25,000 for general admission.
Attendees interested in the full VIP experience have the option of paying twice that, according to a copy of the invitation Axios posted online.
The main event of the evening will be a “conversation with President Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States, and Senator Gary Peters, DSCC Chair.”
Peters, the junior senator from Michigan, leads The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is hosting the event.
The location of the event was described only as “New York, NY,” presumably for security.
“All guests are required to provide proof that they have received a vaccination and booster against COVID-19 and a negative COVID-19 test taken the day of the event,” the invitation reads.
Will Republicans win back the House in November?
Obama, alongside his former Attorney General Eric Holder, is also headlining a fundraiser Tuesday for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, according to Politico.
Holder, the first sitting attorney general ever to be held in contempt of Congress, leads the NDRC, and Obama has made redistricting a focus of his post-presidential career.
Axios speculated that Obama was stepping in now that “Democrats’ once-poor outlook of keeping control of the upper chamber has improved amid pervasive candidate quality issues among Republican Senate contenders.”
Others, including Dick Morris, a long-time election observer, political consultant and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, continue to see the Democrats’ chances in November as slim.
“Lately, the line [the Democrats are] pushing is that ‘Oh, yeah, Trump won these primaries, but his candidates will lose the general election because they’re too extreme, and we won’t win the Senate because we have Trump candidates running,” Morris said in a video posted to his website Friday. “And that is total and complete nonsense.”
Morris argues that voter turnout will give the November victory to the GOP.
“There’s a huge Republican trend out there,” he concluded, “and we’ll win the House and the Senate. So stop your heartburn; we’re going to do OK.”
Obama may have chosen to begin campaigning at this late date to avoid choosing some Democrats over others during the contentious primary season; only five state primaries remain after Tuesday’s contests in Florida in New York. Or perhaps he is stepping in now because he senses the tide turning in the Democrats’ direction and wants to be seen as a member of the winning team.
It’s also possible, however, that the Democrats’ internal polling lines up more with the predictions of observers like Dick Morris — in which case, Obama may be making a last-minute effort to rescue a sinking ship.
