Election 2026 updates: Obama coming to Cleveland, videos from recent campaign stops

Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Ohio Democrats this week. His tour includes stops in Cleveland to promote Sherrod Brown. Brown is in a tight race with the incumbent, Republican Jon Husted, to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.

Brown’s campaign said it would announce the exact timing and location of the rally 24 hours prior to the event. They confirmed the rally would take place in the afternoon and an event page for the campaign stop suggests the event will start some time between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

In a video promoting the campaign visit, Obama said the race between Brown and Husted could decide control of the U.S. Senate. “This race is going to be close. It could determine which party controls the Senate and whether Ohioans can count on the people in Washington to be fighting for you,” he said.

Obama is also set to appear with Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor, who has been focusing her campaign on parts of the state that have been voting Republican in recent elections. She and tech billionaire and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are vying to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

Obama isn’t the only political figure campaigning in the Buckeye State. A former swing state, Ohio has emerged as a battleground for control of the Senate, with Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump visiting recently. As Trump stumped for Husted on Monday, much of his focus was on one of his signature issues: immigration.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this write-up.

Read more: Watch recent JD Vance, state Democrat events in Ohio [livestreams]

Elsewhere around the state:

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Democrat representing Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, recently met with survivors of the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking ring. Kaptur criticized the lack of investigation into Ohio’s connections to Epstein. Kaptur is locked in a tight re-election campaign against Republican Derek Merrin. You can watch the event below, courtesy of C-Span.

Miller and Poindexter

Rep. Max Miller, Republican, is locked in his own competitive re-election campaign against Democrat Brian Poindexter. Miller has been dogged by allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife and two ex-girlfriends. Miller this summer declined bipartisan calls to step aside, including from his former father-in-law, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno. Both parties have increased their spending on the race for a once reliably Republican northeast Ohio district. The House Democrats’ campaign arm has booked $6 million worth of spending while its House Republican counterpart is planning to spend $5.5 million. Miller was not invited to attend Trump’s recent campaign rally in Ohio.

The Associated Press did a deep dive into the campaign between Poindexter and Miller and how it has divided the district. You can read that here.

Know Before You Vote Series

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is trying to cut through the confusion.

Anthony Perlatti, the board’s director, said, “There’s been a lot of chatter in this election cycle from various levels of the federal government and different organizations,” leaving voters unsure about the rules and the tallies. “We want the chatter, the chaotic conversation, to be put aside.”

To combat the misinformation, the board is holding a series of voter information events. The full schedule of upcoming events and an explanation of why they’re being held can be found in Grant Segall’s latest for The Land.

Gubernatorial updates

Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy spent last week campaigning around Columbus, visiting small businesses and hosting rallies. You can see footage from their two recent campaign stops below.