WASHINGTON (USA Today Network)––Former President Barack Obama announced endorsements Wednesday of 81 Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections, and said he is "eager" to help his party gain seats in a contest widely seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump.

While Obama did not mention Trump by name, he said in the public statement outlining his plans that he wanted to lend his status to help candidates who would fight for shared opportunity, help repair alliances abroad and further a commitment to justice.

He described his picks as "diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted."

Obama weighed into races for governor, the House of Representatives, Senate and also for state legislative seats. He backed Georgia gubenatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Nevada Senate candidate Jacky Rosen and Sean Casten, running in a tossup House district in Illinois.

Obama has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office last year, and many Democrats have been keen to get the president – still widely popular within the party – onto the campaign trail. Democrats are battling for control of the House, and need to flip a net 23 seats to take over that chamber. They face a more daunting challenge in the Senate, where Republicans hold a two-seat majority but where Democrats are struggling to defend seats in several states that Trump won in 2016.

“I’m confident that, together, they’ll strengthen this country we love by restoring opportunity that’s broadly shared, repairing our alliances and standing in the world, and upholding our fundamental commitment to justice, fairness, responsibility, and the rule of law," Obama said in a statement.

"But first, they need our votes – and I’m eager to make the case for why Democratic candidates deserve our votes this fall.”

Nothing about the actual candidates. Seeing who is making the endorsements these are probably Neoliberal trash

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>Didn’t endorse Ben Jealous
>Didn’t endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
>Didn’t endorse Abdul El-Sayed
>Didn’t endorse Cynthia Nixon

Fucking trash already

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I went through the list, and a few of the candidates he endorsed are supported by Our Revolution and/or Justice Democrats, but most of them are not.
https://www.justicedemocrats.com/candidates/
https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/

6526749 I appreciate what he's trying to do, but Obama honestly should be staying out of it, and so should Hillary Clinton. The DNC continues to try and mess with success because they're afraid of what happens if they let the Bernie crowd take over. But just as the Democrats had to reinvent themselves after Nixon and Reagan, the time has come to adjust their policies for the 21st century. Bernie's policies are what the youth of today care about, the generation that will most be affected by the current failures of Washington. They don't even realize that this kind of stuff is what hurt the party in 2016.

6526797 At this point an endorsement of Abdul wouldn't help him, he's in third place and falling. And Shri, well I think his debate performance hurt him, that stumble on the issue of marijuana made him look uncertain.

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Abdul’s currently at second right now

That’s a lot of undecided voters