Report: Obama to stump for two Democratic gubernatorial candidates
Former President Obama will hit the campaign trail for two 2017 Democratic gubernatorial candidates, according to a report published by The Hill newspaper.
Obama will be hosting an event this fall for Phil Murphy, who's running for governor of New Jersey, the report said, and an event for Ralph Northam, who's running for governor of Virginia is also being coordinated.
Murphy, 60, served as Obama's ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013 and as finance chair of the Democratic National Committee. He also spent more than two decades working at Goldman Sachs.
Northam, 58, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, a position he's held since 2014, is in a tight race against GOP candidate Ed Gillespie. Northam previously was a member of the Virginia state Senate.
The events are part of the former president's beginning efforts to assist Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
Obama is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech Wednesday at the inaugural Goalkeepers event, which focuses on global poverty and disease, hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He's also scheduled to address a Cantor Fitzgerald health care conference next week in New York.