SAT . “Tuesday was nice, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Obama said during a live taping of the podcast “Pod Save America.”
Former President Barack Obama on Thursday celebrated Democrats’ sweeping victory in Tuesday’s election, but stressed that there’s more work for the party to do.
“Tuesday was nice, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Obama said during a live taping of the podcast “Pod Save America.”
Democrats won across the spectrum Tuesday with Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York City, while Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. In California, a Democrat-backed ballot measure on redistricting was also approved by voters.
Over the weekend, Obama campaigned with Spanberger and Sherrill, and called Mamdani — whom he did not endorse — to offer to be a “sounding board,” CNN previously reported.
“It was good to see progressives get off the mat. It was a good reminder that it turns out the American people are paying attention,” Obama said Thursday, according to a rushed transcript provided by Crooked Media, which organized the event. “They don’t want cruelty. They’re not looking for people on the top trying to entrench themselves in power. They believe in community. They believe in treating people with decency and respect.”
The former president went on to say that this week’s elections demonstrated that candidates “with integrity” resonate with voters.
“It turns out that if, number one, you have candidates with integrity who believe in something and are in it for the right reasons, they can win,” Obama said.
All three candidates ran on a platform of affordability — an issue that propelled President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in the 2024 election. Trump on Wednesday urged Republicans to focus more on the economy in their messaging.
Another takeaway from the election, according to Obama, is “when young people are engaged and involved, then we win.”
According to preliminary CNN exit polls, nearly 80% of voters aged 18-29 backed Mamdani. Similarly, 69% of the same age group voted for Sherrill and 70% supported Spanberger. In California, 84% of voters 24 and under cast a ballot in favor of Democrats’ redistricting measure, along with 76% of voters between the ages of 25 and 29.
Looking ahead to future elections, Obama said Democrats’ “job is to say that we want everybody engaged.”
“We want to have a conversation about how to make sure that every person in this country is treated with dignity and respect, and there are ladders of opportunity, and that there, there’s the possibility of community and that we’re getting along,” Obama said.
“Not in some cliched, phonied way,” Obama continued, “But in a genuine, deep way where we recognize, yeah, we have differences and yes, there are fights that are going to have to be fought, but that deep down, there is something core in us that we have in common that is extraordinary. And America at its best leans into this notion of e pluribus unum— out of many, can come one.”
