Obama attacks Trump policies and Ramaswamy ad at Ohio rally

Former President Barack Obama attacked President Donald Trump’s handling of costs and the war with Iran as he campaigned Saturday for Democrats in two closely contested Ohio races. He also condemned a Republican gubernatorial candidate’s ad featuring his opponent’s estranged mother.

“The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions,” Obama told a crowd in Cleveland. “Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for, nobody voted for.” He urged voters to use the Nov. 3 midterm elections to reject what he called “two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence.”

Obama appeared with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Acton faces Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. Both races are close: Al Jazeera reported that polls give Democrats a slight lead in each, while NBC News described them as toss-ups.

The governor’s race has been shaken by a Ramaswamy campaign ad in which Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calls her daughter a liar and urges Ohioans not to vote for her. Acton has spoken publicly about homelessness and abuse during her childhood. She says she has not seen her mother since 1978, when she was removed from her custody. Her stepfather was charged with rape involving Acton.

“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said of Ramaswamy. “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”

Acton told the rally that Ramaswamy had chosen to “exploit, intentionally, my childhood to save his struggling campaign, but it’s not going to work.” Ramaswamy has defended the ad. CBS News reported that Trump and Vice President JD Vance have defended it, while Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has called for its removal. Asked about the ad Saturday, Trump quoted Arthur’s criticism of Acton and said, “I don’t think you can get a better reference on that.”

Obama devoted much of his speech to Trump’s economic record, saying voters who were frustrated by inflation when they rejected Democrats in 2024 now face higher costs. He blamed the administration’s tariffs and the Iran war, according to NBC News. Mocking Trump’s White House renovations, Obama said the president “should be on HGTV” and joked that the building looked “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

Asked earlier Saturday about the Iran war, Trump said: “I’ve done it very effectively and I may have to finish it off, or maybe they’ll make a deal, but I’m not sure. Either way, we win.”

Ramaswamy spokesperson Connie Luck said Ohioans could not afford “a liberal governor who shows up for Obama but never shows up for them.” Husted spokesperson Amy Natoce also criticized Obama and Brown, saying the two had delivered “higher taxes, less jobs and wide open borders.”

The Ohio stop was Obama’s first rally of the 2026 midterm campaign. He campaigned in Michigan later Saturday and is scheduled to appear with Democratic candidates in Georgia next week.