PITTSBURGH — Former president Barack Obama on Thursday made a direct, impassioned plea to Black men to support Vice President Kamala Harris — a key demographic she is struggling to mobilize — admonishing them for thinking about sitting out the presidential contest as well as suggesting sexism might be at play.

During an unannounced stop at a Harris campaign field office in Pittsburgh, just hours before he was set to appear at his first campaign rally for the Democratic nominee, Obama said he wanted to “speak some truths” and address Black men specifically, making his most direct remarks about their hesitancy in supporting Harris to date.

“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama said, adding that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.”

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Obama questioned how voters, and Black voters specifically, could be on the fence about whether to support Harris or former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

“On the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences,” Obama said, ticking off a list of Harris’s policy proposals. In Trump, he added, “you have someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person ... And you are thinking about sitting out?”

The former president then spoke about what he thought might be contributing to Black men’s soft support of Harris: the discomfort of some with the idea of electing the first female president.

“And you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that,” he said. “Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

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Obama’s comments created a remarkable moment: The nation’s first Black man to serve as president urging others like him to rally behind potentially the first woman of color to ascend to the White House. Harris is Black and Indian American.

The “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” Obama said. “When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting. And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”

Obama began hitting the campaign trail Thursday, stopping first in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, which is central to Harris’s chances of victory. In all seven battleground states — which also include Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona — Trump and Harris are effectively tied, as the Harris campaign has said it expects a tightly contested presidential race that will come down to razor-thin margins.

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Trump and his allies have said he is making inroads with Black men, even as Black women have rallied around Harris, because they recognize that his economic plans would benefit all Americans.

Obama’s efforts on Harris’s behalf will largely be focused on states and counties where early voting has begun in the hope that his appearances can motivate voters to immediately act and cast their ballots. But his message to Black men on Thursday marked a departure from the upbeat and joyful message Harris, her running mate Tim Walz and other surrogates have adopted in their efforts to motivate the small number of undecided voters.

During his rally at the University of Pittsburgh, Obama strongly criticized Trump’s character. While he said he understood that many voters were seeking change, particularly after struggling with high prices, he said he could not understand how people could look to Trump and think the former president would offer something better.

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“There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself,” Obama said. “I’ve said it before: Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”

Obama addressed a packed crowd at the University of Pittsburgh’s Fitzgerald Field House, where people waited in lines for hours before his speech. Many of his lines attacking Trump and urging people to vote were met with screams and cheers. Earlier in the evening, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey, who is up for reelection, both spoke.

Obama spent much of the rally mocking Trump, accusing him of being a grifter and at one point comparing him with former Cuban president Fidel Castro — “ranting and raving about crazy conspiracy theories, the two-hour speeches, word salad,” Obama said of the supposed similarities.

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David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, said in an interview that the direct address to Black men was the “right thing to do,” adding that Obama can motivate other key groups Harris needs to win.

“He is one of the most broadly popular figures and impactful surrogates within the party,” Axelrod said. “He’s also the most powerful and compelling speaker in American politics. He speaks plainly, conversationally but also in a language of values that most Americans share. And in the end, in this election, that may be the most important message of all.”

At the rally, Obama addressed men more generally. “I’m sorry, gentlemen — I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying and the putting people down, is a sign of strength,” he said. “I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is and has never been.”

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Obama also lambasted Trump for attacking reproductive rights and cutting taxes on wealthy Americans. At the end of the rally, he returned to his central message: imploring people in Pittsburgh to go vote, reminding them of how they could do so right now because early voting has begun.

“Get off your couch and vote,” the former president said. “Put down your phone and vote. Grab your friends and family and vote.”

Aides said Obama and Harris are likely to appear together at some point before the election on Nov. 5, but it is not yet clear when. In the final 25 days before the presidential election, Harris, Walz and the campaign’s most effective surrogates are blanketing the airwaves and crisscrossing the country hoping to convince the small number of undecided voters to support Harris.

They are also targeting people who have not yet decided whether to vote — particularly young voters and people of color, groups that Obama turned out in record numbers during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

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Harris was campaigning on the other side of the country from Obama on Thursday as the campaign works to reach as many voters as possible each day. She pretaped a Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, then was scheduled to deliver remarks at a campaign rally in Arizona later in the evening.

Obama’s efforts will also focus on supporting House and Senate Democrats, including Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who released an ad featuring Obama earlier this week. Democrats are hoping to hold on to their razor-thin Senate majority and retake the House of Representatives.

Harris and Obama have a relationship that dates back about 20 years, an Obama aide said. The two first met on the campaign trail when Obama was running a long-shot bid for one of Illinois’s U.S. Senate seats and Harris was an early supporter. Since 2020, when Harris became President Joe Biden’s running mate, Obama has been in regular touch with Harris “to provide counsel and be a sounding board whenever asked,” the Obama aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personal relationship.

The two have also been in regular touch since Harris launched her presidential bid less than three months ago after Biden’s exit from the presidential race. Obama told Harris he would help her in the final months and weeks of the campaign, including with fundraising, policy or strategic advice and hitting the campaign trail, the Obama aide said.