Former President Barack Obama endorsed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for reelection in a new video as Democrats rely on him to close out the midterms.

Obama released the endorsement Friday, asking Pennsylvania voters to stand with the Democratic governor who is seeking a second four-year term against Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity. CBS News first obtained the video.

In the clip, Obama framed the race in personal and national terms.

Obama told viewers:

"Pennsylvania, Governor Shapiro has your back, and in this election, I'm asking you to have his,"

He called Shapiro a "friend" and "one of my earliest endorsers," and pressed for leaders who show "decency and integrity" while opposing "chaos, cruelty and corruption" in Washington.

The pitch lands with less than a month until the Nov. 3 elections, as Democrats push to win control of Congress and key governors’ offices. Obama has cut roughly two dozen video endorsements for Democratic Senate and gubernatorial candidates and is reprising his familiar role as a high-profile closer.

Shapiro already holds commanding leads in Pennsylvania

Recent surveys show Shapiro far ahead of Garrity. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Shapiro leading by 25 percentage points among likely Pennsylvania voters and carrying a 63% job approval rating.

A New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll released last month put Shapiro ahead by 20 points. Shapiro has repeatedly said his immediate focus remains winning reelection, even as he is widely viewed as a possible 2028 Democratic presidential contender.

That double-digit cushion raises a practical question for voters: why a former president who left the White House 10 years ago is still the party’s late-cycle closer in a race that already looks lopsided on paper.

Obama’s midterm surge also fits a broader pattern in which other top Democrats have stayed quieter on the trail, leaving him and allies to carry more of the load.

Party strategists have watched Biden stay mostly off the midterm trail while Obama ramps up surrogate work in battleground states.

Nearly two dozen videos hit key Senate and governor races

The Shapiro endorsement did not arrive alone. Several other Obama videos dropped Thursday for Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson, Georgia gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Wisconsin gubernatorial nominee David Crowley.

Obama is also expected to campaign later this month in Michigan for Democratic senatorial contender Abdul El-Sayed. The former president is serving as a prominent surrogate in the party’s effort to flip or hold power in Congress and statehouses on Nov. 3.

Pennsylvania remains a core battleground. Georgia, Maine, Wisconsin, and Michigan round out the map where Obama’s videos and travel are concentrated. The message is consistent: elect Democrats who will, in his words, stand against disorder in Washington.

Critics of that framing note that Obama’s own recent public comments have drawn sharp pushback over accuracy and selective memory.

Recent coverage has tracked how Trump called Obama’s all-women governments claim ridiculous after one such statement.

A political bond that dates to 2008

Obama and Shapiro’s alliance stretches back nearly two decades. As a state legislator in 2008, Shapiro endorsed Obama’s presidential primary run. Obama now returns the favor in a high-stakes reelection year.

That history also surfaced in a 2024 jab from Vice President JD Vance, who joked about Shapiro’s speaking style.

Vance said at the time:

"If I really tried to do a bad impression of Barack Obama, that's what it would sound like."

Asked about the remark by CBS News, Shapiro replied:

"Barack Obama was probably our most gifted orator of my time, so it's kind of a weird insult, I guess."

The exchange underscored how tightly Shapiro’s public image is still tied to Obama’s brand, an association Democrats clearly want to highlight before Election Day and one Republicans have already tried to needle.

Decency rhetoric meets a long record of Democratic governance

Obama’s video leans hard on “decency and integrity” and warns against “chaos, cruelty and corruption.” Those lines are aimed at Washington and, by implication, at Republican leadership. Yet the same former president is re-entering the fray to protect Democratic power in Congress and state capitals after a decade out of office.

Voters measuring that appeal against results can look at the policy ledger from the Obama years and the years since. Energy mandates, institutional trust, and border and crime outcomes remain live issues in the states where these videos are running.

Independent scrutiny has continued to surface costs tied to that era, including work showing how Obama’s own economist exposed green energy mandate costs running into the hundreds of billions.

Even signature legacy projects have drawn fresh attention over unpaid bills and contractor disputes.

Reporting on the presidential center has detailed how new liens pushed payment disputes past $1.4 million as subcontractors sought what they were owed.

None of that erases Shapiro’s current poll numbers. It does put the celebrity endorsement in context: Democrats are still turning to a former president who left office 10 years ago to close races, define “decency,” and mobilize their base while voters live with the governing record that followed.

What the closing weeks will test

Shapiro’s campaign wants the focus on reelection, not 2028 speculation. Obama’s intervention keeps national Democratic stakes front and center anyway. The videos for Ossoff, Jackson, Bottoms, Crowley, and the planned Michigan trip for El-Sayed show a coordinated late push across multiple battlegrounds.

Garrity, the Republican treasurer challenging Shapiro, has not been quoted in the same coverage responding to the Obama video. The race, as measured by the Quinnipiac and New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena surveys, remains a steep climb for the GOP nominee inside Pennsylvania.

Obama’s return also invites comparison with how he has handled other institutional fights. He has criticized Republican moves on press access while his own administration’s record with certain outlets drew years of complaints from conservatives.

That contrast has been laid out in prior reporting on how Obama criticized Trump’s press policies while downplaying his own record with unfriendly coverage.

For Pennsylvania voters, the choice is concrete. Shapiro seeks four more years. Garrity offers a Republican alternative. Obama is asking the state to “have his” back. The polls say most voters already lean Shapiro’s way. The endorsement tests whether star power and decade-old alliances still move the decisive middle, or whether people simply vote the results they see at home.

Democrats can keep rolling out Obama videos until Nov. 3. Voters still get the final word on whether the rhetoric of decency matches the record they have lived under.