PITTSBURGH — Former President Barack Obama delivered a pep talk Thursday in Pittsburgh as he sought to energize voters whose support will be crucial to the Democrats’ chances of carrying Pennsylvania this fall.

Obama, kicking off a tour of battleground states, used his speech at the University of Pittsburgh’s Fitzgerald Field House to praise Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, take repeated shots at Republican nominee Donald Trump and urge the packed and cheering crowd to vote.

“Whether this election is making you feel excited or scared, do not just sit back and hope for the best,” he said. “Get off your couch and vote. Put down your phones and vote. Help your friends and families and co-workers do the same. ... We’ll leave no doubt about who we are and what America stands for. Let’s go do it.”

Obama remains one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, and his appearance in Pittsburgh was designed to help energize voters who must show up to the polls in large numbers if Harris is to carry the most populous swing state and win the presidency.

"He's the star of the Democratic Party, and with him getting in at this portion of the race, it's going to elevate everybody,” said Thomas Wheeler, 71, from Penn Hills, a retired sheet metal worker.

Polls show the race is neck and neck in the nation’s most populous battleground state, with the margins between Trump and Harris within the margins of error.

That puts an even greater emphasis on the candidates’ abilities to get their supporters to vote early, vote by mail, or turn out on Election Day.

Before his speech, Obama, pastries in hand, visited a campaign headquarters in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood to thank volunteers and deliver a plea to a crucial constituency for Harris: Black voters.

Polls show Blacks are not lining up behind the first Black woman to be nominated for president by a major political party the way they did for Obama, the first Black president.

In a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, Harris led former President Donald Trump, 78% to 8%, among likely Black voters, with another 9% undecided. When Obama was on the ballot, he received 95% of the Black vote in 2008 and 93% in 2012, according to exit polls.

“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, according to pool reports.

Obama said that it “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers,” and that he wanted to speak directly to Black men who he suggested may not be enthusiastic about supporting Harris.

“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.”

He said the election provided a choice between someone “who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences” and someone “who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person.”

At Pitt, Obama called Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris “as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been” and touted her proposals for increasing the Child Tax Credit, lowering housing costs and helping entrepreneurs start small businesses as he repeatedly attacked Trump.

Obama remembered late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, Obama’s ambassador to Ireland, recalling walking through Heinz Field with Rooney, “and he knew the name of every single person. He’d pass by a custodian and say ‘Hey Jimmy, how’s the family?’

“He used his influence to get more Black and brown coaches in the NFL,” Obama said, referring to the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which aims to increase the number of minorities hired in head coach, general manager, and executive positions. “He gave back to his community. He was known for his integrity.”

“It’s so different from what we see out of the Republican nominee,” he said.

Obama said one of the most disturbing aspects of this election season is “how we seem to have set aside the values people like Dan stood for.”

He especially got agitated at Trump’s claims that the U.S. was not responding adequately to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, even as Republican officials in the affected states refuted those allegations.

“It used to be we had arguments about tax policy or foreign policy. We didn't have arguments about whether you should tell the truth or not,” Obama said. “You have a guy who will just lie about it to score political points. The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most vulnerable moment? My question is, ‘When did that become OK?’”

And while polls show Trump favored over Harris on the economy, Obama said the former president didn’t deserve any credit for the growth under his watch.

“It was pretty good, because it was my economy,” Obama said. “It wasn’t something he did. I spent eight years cleaning up the mess the Republicans left me the last time. He didn’t do nothing except those big tax cuts.”

Obama acknowledged that Americans have been through a lot, especially during the pandemic and then the rise in prices as the economy began recovering. But he said Trump was the wrong person to fix anything.

“There are a lot of Americans who are still struggling out there,” Obama said. “I get it, why people are looking to shake things up. I understand people frustrated, feeling we can do better. I cannot understand why anybody will think Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania. There is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”

Trump Pennsylvania campaign spokesman Kush Desai said no one is going to listen to Obama.

“An Obama visit isn’t going to convince Pennsylvanians to vote for another four years of open borders, rising prices and disaster at home and abroad,” Desai said.

Attendance to Obama’s speech was limited, with supporters receiving links to click on in order to reserve seats, and some of them not knowing until Wednesday whether they would be admitted. People lined up hours before the doors opened to the venue.

That included Svetlana Skalican, 49, of Dormont, who works in airline customer service at Pittsburgh International Airport. She said it was huge to see the former president in person.

"You get to see somebody who speaks so organically and originally,” she said. “He’s such a good orator, so I had to come.”

Abortion rights were on the minds of some of those waiting to get in. Trump fulfilled a campaign promise and nominated three U.S. Supreme Court justices who were part of the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade and revoked a 49-year-old constitutional right to abortion.

"I have a 20-year-old daughter, it terrifies me that she doesn't have the same rights as me," said Brandy Muth of Armstrong County.

And Michelle Boyd, 61, of the North Shore, a retired worker from the data management field, said she worried about her three granddaughters, aged 18, 15, and 7, living where abortion is illegal.

"I think my biggest fear is they will go forward into their early 20s and not be able to make a decision that is so personal and could affect the rest of their lives," Boyd said.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in a tight race of his own against former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, introduced Obama and sat on a stool on stage to his right.

Obama urged the crowd to vote for the other Democratic candidates on the November ballot, while reserving his kindest words for Casey.

“No one is more humble and more honest and more rooted in his community and has more integrity,” Obama said of Casey, who he served with in the U.S. Senate before becoming president.

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