Former President Barack Obama rallies in Cleveland [Livestream]

Former President Barack Obama will be part of a midterm campaign rally for two key Democrats in Ohio on Saturday. Obama is expected to be joined by former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is running to return to the U.S. Senate, and Dr. Amy Acton, who is campaigning to be Ohio’s first Democratic governor since Ted Strickland.

Details on the rally were kept secret leading up to the event. Ticket holders were only informed of the location of the rally 24 hours prior to the event. Details remained tightly guarded even after that deadline passed.

You can watch the event via the video below. Until the event starts, the video player will display an error message. Reload the page to reload the video stream.

Obama’s appearance comes amid genuine momentum for Democrats. The state has been reliably Republican since the first Trump presidency, but polls show both Brown and Acton leading their respective races. The former president is also appearing amid swirling controversy for the Republican candidate for Ohio’s governor. Vivek Ramaswamy has refused to take down an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother. Acton’s mother lost custody of her children decades ago after her husband was indicted for raping Acton as a child.

President Donald Trump has supported Ramaswamy’s decision to continue airing the ad, despite growing calls from both Republicans and Democrats to pull the spot. Brown’s opponent for the U.S. Senate, Jon Husted, said he would not have run the ad. Gov. Mike DeWine criticized the attack and former Rep. Jim Renacci wrote an essay urging his fellow Republicans to distance themselves from Ramaswamy.