Former President Obama is preparing to hit the campaign trail next week for Vice President Harris, focusing on key battleground states in the lead up to Election Day, according to a senior campaign official with anonymity to discuss the matter.

Obama, who served back-to-back terms as president from 2009 through 2017, will kick off his drive in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania on Thursday, a state which remains one of the tightest contests in the nation and which could tip the scales for either candidate. 

A Fox News survey of Pennsylvania voters last week found Harris narrowly ahead of Trump by 2 points (50-48%) among registered voters, while the race is tied at 49% each among likely voters. President Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes in 2020. 

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Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama officially endorsed Harris for president in July, five days after President Biden ended his 2024 re-election in a blockbuster announcement. 

The 44th president then stumped for Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, saying she “is ready for the job.”

“It’s up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in,” Obama said. “And make no mistake: It will be a fight.”

“This is a person who has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a champion. Kamala wasn’t born into privilege. She had to work for what she’s got, and she actually cares about what other people are going through.”

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Harris and Obama’s friendship goes back 20 years to when they met on the campaign trail while he was running for Senate in Illinois, the senior campaign official says. Harris was an early supporter of his 2008 presidential campaign and even knocked doors for him in Iowa ahead of the caucus, per the official. 

Last month, Former President Obama headlined a fundraiser for Harris that raised $4 million, per The Washington Post. His fundraising efforts so far on her behalf — fundraising content and events that feature him — have raised $76 million, per the outlet. 

Harris’ campaign is headed by Jen O’Malley Dillon Harris, a veteran of Obama’s two campaigns who also managed President Biden’s 2020 campaign and built his 2024 operation from the White House.

Other former Obama advisers on the Harris team, include David Plouffe, who was manager of Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 and a senior aide during his 2012 re-election victory.

Harris campaigned in battleground Wisconsin on Thursday where she campaigned with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.

Trump, meanwhile, is scheduled to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for a campaign event. It will mark his first return to Butler since the attempted assassination on July 13.

During a rally Wednesday in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Trump said that he wanted to return to the venue to “finish our speech.”

Reuters contributed to this report.