Until Wednesday, former first lady Michelle Obama had yet to schedule an official appearance on the campaign trail since her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.
That has all changed. Obama will headline a rally focused on turnout among young and first-time voters in Atlanta, the capital and most populous city of swing state Georgia, on Oct. 29.
The rally will take place days before early voting ends in the state, and is expected to be one of many appearances Obama holds in the lead-up to Election Day.
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The Georgia event will be hosted by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan voter participation group Obama founded in 2018 to “to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election.”
Obama has kept a low profile since appearing at the DNC and, two sources told NBC News, that’s in part because she was concerned about event security in the wake of the two assassination attempts on former president Donald Trump’s life.
One of the sources noted “the staffs of all the former presidents and first ladies recognized the new reality” after the incidents involving Trump.
Those concerns are also personal for Obama: A Trump supporter who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 was booked on a weapons charges after he was arrested near the Obamas’ home last year when law enforcement found multiple firearms and ammunition in his vehicle.
Obama has reportedly felt ambivalent about politics for years and, last year, told Oprah Winfrey she would never run for president. But, as one of the Democratic Party’s most well-known, and arguably its most-liked figure, she could prove an invaluable surrogate.
Her last major address on behalf of Harris at the DNC, delivered during primetime on the convention’s second night, received a rapturous response.
In addition to her nonpartisan voter turnaround event, NBC News reported Tuesday that Obama will also begin making appearances in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Five sources familiar with the planning told NBC that Obama will take on Harris campaign events closer to Election Day, with three saying she will be one of the surrogates charged with making “closing arguments” for the Democrats’ campaign.
“She will have made her voice heard,” one of the sources told NBC, of Obama’s plan to hit the road for Harris before voting day.
In the meantime, Obama has been working behind the scenes to shore up support for Harris in swing states, NBC reported, though the specifics of those efforts were unclear.
Other high profile Democrat surrogates have been out in full force in recent days.
Former president Barack Obama, stumped for Harris in Pennsylvania last week and will head to Wisconsin next week.
Former president Bill Clinton has been campaigning for the Democrat nominee in Georgia this week. Both are expected to continue holding events in battleground states right up to Election Day.
