Obama To Campaign For Ralph Northam In Richmond: Reports

Former President Barack Obama will be back on the campaign trail for the very first time since he left office back in January, as he'll be stumping for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam in Richmond later this month, according to multiple reports.

While Obama has held some fundraisers for the Democratic Party in previous months, the Oct. 19 rally will be his first public appearance at a political campaign event.

Northam, the current lieutenant governor of Virginia, is locked in a tight race with Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate who once served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Virginia voters will go to the polls on Nov. 7.

While the rally will be held in Northam's honor in an effort to keep Virginia under a Democratic governor, Obama will certainly steal the show as everyone closes watches whether he will bring up Trump for the first time since leaving office and what kind of remarks he will make.

Obama is not the only one from the last White House administration to campaign with Northam. Former Vice President Joe Biden will be appearing with Northam at a closed-to-the-public event at Reston Town Center on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is campaigning with Gillespie on Saturday in Abingdon, which is located in Southwest Virginia.

Northam was named last week in a tweet by President Trump, who slammed the Democratic candidate for being soft on immigration.

Ralph Northam,who is running for Governor of Virginia,is fighting for the violent MS-13 killer gangs & sanctuary cities. Vote Ed Gillespie!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2017

While the race is reasonably close, Northam has consistently held the lead in polls. An aggregation of polls by RealClearPolitics shows Northam with an average lead of 6.8 points out of six polls. All of the polls show him with the lead, with Roanoke College showing the smallest lead (+4) and the Washington Post showing the largest (+13).

Gillespie has hit Northam in recent television ads, claiming that Northam is allowing gangs like MS-13 to prosper by not being forceful with "sanctuary cities" that protect immigrants. Northam's campaign has slammed Gillespie in ads that paint him as a Washington lobbyist who is allied with President Trump.

Image via White House