Barack Obama will campaign Saturday with Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in Ohio and Michigan, both highly competitive states that will help determine control of the chamber, as the former president ramps up his involvement in the midterm elections.
Obama's first event is in Cleveland with former three-term Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is looking to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Amy Acton, a Democrat running for governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, will also appear at the rally.
Although Ohio has become more reliably Republican, it's been a hotly contested battleground this year.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both visited the state in recent weeks to drum up support for Husted and Ramaswamy.
Obama then heads to a rally in Detroit for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who is working to unite the Democratic base in Michigan after winning a divisive primary by less than a percentage point. El-Sayed is running against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican.
Obama’s appearance in the city, which is three-quarters Black, could bolster support for El-Sayed among Black voters. In the primary, his opponent Haley Stevens won Wayne County, which includes Detroit, by about 6 percentage points. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian vice president, campaigned for El-Sayed in September.
El-Sayed criticized Obama after his 2012 reelection for not following through on all of his progressive campaign promises, writing that Obama “was not the right choice — he just wasn’t the wrong one.”
El-Sayed told reporters earlier this month he appreciated the former president, calling him “foundational” to his ability to run for office, but there were still elements of Obama's presidency he disagreed with.
“It’s a normal thing to love somebody, to really appreciate all that they’ve done, and to say, ‘Hey, here are some things I would have done differently,’” El-Sayed said. “But they still did some important things to create opportunity for you.”
El-Sayed spoke with Obama on the phone shortly after his primary win in August.
Michigan also has open races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, is slated to appear along with others down the ballot. Benson is running against Republican Rep. John James.
Obama will headline a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump is slated to speak in Georgia Saturday.
GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, attends a campaign rally before Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Sharonville Convention Center, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Sharonville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
BERLIN (AP) — A fire swept through the mountaintop retreat built for Adolf Hitler and known as the Eagle's Nest as emergency services struggled to tackle the blaze in snow and wind, and a man was arrested on suspicion of arson, authorities said Saturday.
Emergency services in the Berchtesgaden district, in the Bavarian Alps in Germany's southeastern corner, were alerted to the fire by an alarm at about 9:15 p.m. Friday. Firefighters and police rushed to the scene — located at the end of a narrow road that winds up the mountain, in part through a series of tunnels — and could see the flames as they approached.
They stopped and arrested a man on a motorcycle driving the other way down the road.
Prosecutors said the 33-year-old suspect, a German citizen who has ties to the Berchtesgaden area but doesn't currently live there, was questioned. They said he showed signs of mental illness and he was being set to a psychiatric facility, but they also would look into the possibility of a political motive in view of the building's history. Police said there were no current indications that anyone else was involved.
Rain that turned into the year's first snow, accompanied by strong wind, complicated the already difficult task of tackling the blaze and firefighters had to pull out overnight after several hours, officials said. No one was injured in the fire, and firefighters hoped to finish their work on Saturday though they weren't able to enter the building because of a danger of falling material.
The building, known in German as the Kehlsteinhaus, is located on a cliff 1,834 meters (6,017 feet) above sea level. It is reachable by an elevator built inside the rock from the end of the mountain road, which is closed to public traffic but used during the day by buses for visitors.
It has been operated as a cafe and restaurant since 1952 and contains an exhibition on its history. The Nazi dictator himself rarely used the Kehlsteinhaus — unlike the Berghof residence, also in the Berchtesgaden area, the ruins of which were blown up in 1952.
The Obersalzberg Documentation Center, further down the mountain, is home to the area's main historical exhibition and was unaffected by the fire.
Officials indicated that the Eagle's Nest would be restored, though they were vague so soon after the blaze about how exactly that would be done.
“We're not going to leave a ruin there,” Bavaria's interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told reporters in Berchtesgaden. But what the site will look like in the future will be a matter for discussions with local officials, historians, preservationists and others.
“I think we will be able to find a sensible solution,” Herrmann added. Bavaria's state government owns the building.
The minister stressed that “it is important that we continue to do the work of remembrance.”
The Kehlsteinhaus on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, which was severely damaged by a fire, Saturday, Oct.24, 2026. ( Jason Tschepljakow/dpa via AP)
The Kehlsteinhaus on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, which was severely damaged by a fire, Saturday, Oct.24, 2026. ( Jason Tschepljakow/dpa via AP)
This July 26, 2007 photo shows the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest, built for Adolf Hitler in 1938 near Berchtesgaden, Germany. (AP Photo/Geir Moulson)
