In his first rally of the 2026 midterm cycle, former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, calling out the latter’s much-maligned campaign ad centering on Democrat Amy Acton’s mother.

“There's gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,” Obama said of Ramaswamy’s choice to run the ad.

With the midterms just over a week away, Obama was rallying in Cleveland in support of Acton and Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown.

Trump, Obama said, had broken a slew of promises he made on the campaign trail in 2024, ensnaring the country in an ongoing war in Iran and failing to bring down costs. Instead, “he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” the former president said, taking aim at Trump’s renovations to the executive mansion.

“We got two more years of this administration,” he said. “That’s how our system of govern...